Turnabout is Fair Play
by Coranam
Summary: It has been two months since Tokuchi Toa led the Lycaons to victory and disappeared. Takami Itsuki runs into him unexpectedly, and then decides to make a bet. Two weeks later, Toa begins his new job as an assistant coach for the Chiba Mariners. This story will no longer be continued on this site, so no further updates will be posted here.
1. Chapter 1

Itsuki couldn't help but second guess himself. Really, he has no business going to this party. He should be reviewing strategy, or attending off-season practice with a few other members of his team, but the call of some much needed socializing and a cold glass of something deadly calls his name, so here he was. Knocking on the door of his upstairs neighbors. After a moment of delay, Mitsuko opened the door. He had met her and her brother Takeo a year before, when he ran into them in the stairwell as they attempted to move a ridiculously heavy couch up the stairs. After he accepted a bribe of beer and pizza, he had helped them move that monstrosity, and they had been friendly ever since.

After entering, Mitsuko took him around, introducing him. Just as he was halfway to the kitchen, Takeo joined them, and started steering them towards the balcony. Just as they neared the door, he felt their eyes fixating onto his face.

"Hey, what are you guys looking at? Do you -" Itsuki began, before being cut off by the sight in front of him. It was him. He had no idea what he was doing here. He had just so happen to believe that Tokuchi had run off after the championships, and was off skulking somewhere with seedy casinos and cheap liquor. But no. He was here at this party, smoking a cigarette on the balcony looking as nonchalant as ever. Just as he was about to turn around to question his hosts, Tokuchi made eye contact, and for that one moment, the earth stood still.

These moments, however, never last long, and the world quickly descended into chaos.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Tokuchi asked, just as Itsuki whipped around to face Mitsuko. "What the hell is this?" He demanded, ignoring Tokuchi in favor of demanding answers from his "friends".

Mitsuko and Takeo took one last moment to drink in the shocked and disturbed reactions from the men in front of them before they rushed the door, and spun inside just as Tokuchi reached it, and attempted to shut it in their faces. Tokuchi however, didn't seem to like having his only escape route disappear, as he stuck his foot in the door to prevent Mitsuko's attempts at locking it, and got in Takeo's face.

"You think that this is equivalent to losing ten thousand yen?" Toa demanded, nose scrunching up in annoyance. "You think you can bother me by throwing that guy in my face?" Itsuki decided it would be best to back off at this point. It looks like Tokuchi is only getting started. "You obviously are obviously much more fixated on this than I am" Tokuchi continued. At this point, all eyes in the room were on them, and Itsuki felt that this is as good a time as any to leave. Booze be damned, he had had enough Tokuchi drama to last him a lifetime.

Just as he was about to really get started on Takeo, Toa heard a door slam. The source of his ire had done everyone a favor, and removed himself from the situation. It would be best if he did the same to spare himself from any more of this embarrassment these people called entertainment.

"Just so you know" Toa muttered, "I will be leaving" he looked around for a way to exit without making a scene. He spotted the liquor table. He got it. "And I will be taking these with me." He finished, scooping up all the bottles he could carry, and scurried out the door, ignoring the horrified cries of his former "friends".

Toa made his way down the stairs, only to come across Takami Itsuki standing in the stairwell, muttering to himself and pacing as he searched his pockets. The idiot had obviously forgotten something. Keys, probably. He had to get around him in a dignified manner. Just as he was about to breeze past him, Takami looked up at him with wide eyes.

"Don't let the door close-" Itsuki began before he heard a resounding clang behind Tokuchi. Well fuck. Judging by the startled look on Tokuchi's stupid face, he obviously had no idea what he had done. "You idiot!" Takami shouted "You let the door close!"

Toa was done. He had been run out of his friends' apartment, and now he was being shouted at by the root of the problem. "What are you talking about, you idiot?" he asked. "Why shouldn't I let the door close?"

To this, Takami let out a frustrated growl. "I don't have my card key to open the door, and they automatically lock after 10" He moaned. "We can get into the stairwell, but not out". Toa felt his stomach sink. Oh god, no. Not this. Takami ignored Toa's desire for him to shut up and continued "Unless you want to call those assholes and beg them to come get us, we are trapped until six".

Itsuki took a breath, and collapsed into a squat, cradling his head in his hands. He took this as an opportunity to take in the sight of Tokuchi. He is now slumping against the wall, gazing up at the ceiling, as if to question God, asking him why they were cursed. Then, his gaze fell to the copious amount of booze Tokuchi had probably taken from their hosts. This was most likely his idea of revenge. It was then his mood fell to "fuck it" levels, and he grabbed a bottle, opened it, and took a swig.

Toa stared openly at the madman before him. They were stuck in a stairwell together, and all he could do was drink copious amounts of alcohol. But then again, there was the alternative, and Toa could not see himself spending eight hours alone with this man sober. So Toa did one thing he did very rarely. He gave up. Grabbing an unopened bottle of something amber that singed his eyebrows when he opened it, he sat a few steps up from Takami. They sat in silence for another ten minutes before the threat of alcohol poisoning became a very real fear for the both of them, forcing them to abandon their bottles in favor of silence. And silent they were, for at least another half hour. Just as his ears started to ring from all the silence, Toa felt the weight of Takami's gaze. Glancing down, Toa made and maintained eye contact.

Itsuki could not believe the situation they were in. It was like a bad American sitcom. Tokuchi has nice eyes. He never seemed to notice that on the field, but then again, he had other things to worry about, like crushing Tokuchi and grinding the Lycaons into the dust. That was still a pretty attractive option, but they still had a good seven hours left stuck in this hellhole, and a good fight would only last a good seven minutes. Maybe three due to their intoxication. Maybe those Americans had it right. Maybe they should talk to each other and get to know one another. If anyone would extend the olive branch, it would be him. "So" Takami began, racking his mind for what to say next. "How did you meet Mitsuko and Takeo"? He asked in a poor attempt to make conversation.

Oh god no. Just no. Toa would be having none of this drunken bonding shit. None of it. He declined to answer, and instead stared at Takami with dead eyes. He would not blink until Takami looked away. That was sure to establish his dominance, and fix him up with another seven hours of sweet, sweet silence.

"So this is the way it is going to be" Itsuki thought to himself as he maintained eye contact with Tokuchi. No way was he going to look away first. This was going to stop now.

They maintained their stand off until both men were red eyed and irritable. Huffing, Toa looked away just as Takami lowered his head into his hands. This was going to be the longest six hours and fifty-five minutes of his life.

Tokuchi's silence lasted for another hour. One agonizing hour of them refusing to look at each other, pacing, drinking, and twiddling their thumbs. Itsuki allowed his previous buzz to wear off before sipping a bit more of the potato alcohol he so enjoyed. He was just drunk enough to tolerate Tokuchi, but not enough so to start talking about his college years. After ten more minutes, Tokuchi's strong will finally snapped.

"We used to play poker together back in high school" Toa muttered, choking back his pride. "I used to let them win every once in a while so they would keep bringing in fresh meat who didn't know how to win".

Itsuki looked up, startled out of his tipsy haze. He was sorely tempted to ignore Tokuchi's attempt to make conversation, but the threat of boredom was enough to make him reply. "You've known them since high school"? He asked, "How have you kept friends for that long"? He finished. Noting Toa's curled lip, Itsuki had moments to dodge the misplaced kick directed at him. "That's not nice" He said lamely.

"I have friends, moron". Toa stated. "They just aren't close friends, as you can tell". Takami seemed to consider this. "So why did they pull this stunt"? He asked, seeming genuinely curious. Toa considered his answer before replying "Because I humiliated Takeo. He was getting a bit too stuck up, so I took all of his cash in a game. He was probably more offended to learn I'd been going easy on him than he was about the money".

Itsuki could not comprehend the idea of Tokuchi going easy on someone, especially when money was involved. "So why did you do it"? He asked "Why were you going easy on him"? The corners of Tokuchi's smug mouth twitched when he replied "Because he was still useful at the time". Itsuki fixed his gaze behind Tokuchi's left shoulder. Of course that was it. There was not an ounce of compassion in this man. And he used the term "man" loosely.

"So," Toa begins "How do you know them"?

Takami replied immediately. "They're my neighbors. I helped move them in" How pedestrian. He could at least have made an effort to come up with something more interesting than that. They sat in silence after that. He couldn't think of anything he wanted to say to that man, and it seems that neither could he. It was after a pregnant pause that Takami asked "So how are the Lycaons doing?"

Toa let his head fall to the side and thud against the wall. His buzz was wearing off way too fast to be discussing this. "No idea" He said. "That's behind me now".

Itsuki couldn't believe this. He had heard about how Tokuchi had gotten on the team, and how he had been made to stay. What he couldn't comprehend however, is why left. He had led a team to the championships, and was beloved by the team and its fans, so how could he leave? "You are kind of a rotten bastard, you know"? Takami muttered, casting a dead eyed gaze over Tokuchi, who merely shrugged in acknowledgement.

Toa needed a cigarette, common courtesy be damned. He let his eyes fall on a chip in the plaster of the far wall as he lit up. A little less than four hours left to go. "How is your team doing"? He asked, trying his best not to sound smug. "Better" was the other man's reply. "We are finally getting back on track to where we need to be. But what some of us really need is a kick in the ass". Toa hummed in acknowledgement. He needed to change the subject. But before he could think of another asinine topic, he felt a hand rest on his knee.

"Hey," the other man began, "how about a bet?"

Thank you so much for reading my first fic. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. Thank you so much to KatenissEverdeen for being an amazing beta, and for all the wonderful ideas!


	2. Chapter 2

Toa was beginning to find this situation very unbelievable. He was trapped in a stairwell with the only man who was ever able to give him any trouble, they were both reasonably tipsy, and now bets are being suggested. This was like something out of a fever dream. Yet, despite the unlikely scenario, he was intrigued. You could always get him out of bed for a good gamble. "What kind of bet?" he asked.

Itsuki was taking a gamble just by bringing this up. This was by far the worst idea he's ever had, but his loosened inhibitions were also loosening his tongue.

"A pretty high stakes one. If I win, then you give me one of your full bottles. If you win, then I will give you one of mine". Tokuchi seemed to contemplate this for a moment before nodding his approval. He pulled out a deck of cards from his pocket. Itsuki couldn't say he was surprised by a person like Tokuchi carrying around a deck of cards. The only problem was he didn't know many games, and he had a feeling Tokuchi wasn't thinking "go fish". "Have you ever played Egyptian Ratscrew?" Tokuchi asked. It just so happened that he had.

They sat down facing each other, and split the cards evenly between them. Tokuchi started the pile, laying down a five of spades. Itsuki countered with a 6 of hearts, and the round progressed as such until Tokuchi laid down a king of spades. Takami laid down his only face card, a queen of hearts. Tokuchi quickly slapped the pile, grabbing all the cards for himself. When Itsuki was about to say something, Tokuchi shrugged and said "It was a marriage. You put a queen on my king". He decided to let it slide, and watched as Tokuchi started the next round. They continued like this for a while, building up the pile until one of them remembered a rule and slapped it. After five or six rounds, Itsuki had significantly fewer bottles than Toa. That would not do. It was then he knew what he had to do. After placing his cards on the ground, Itsuki looked at Tokuchi with a predatory gleam in his eye.

"We've been playing this for a while. What do you say we switch to something else?" Tokuchi put down his cards and began to cut and shuffle the deck.

"Sure. What do you want to play next? Poker? Blackjack? Swedish Shrubbery?"

"Nah, I had something a bit more physical in mind" Takami stated. Tokuchi looked a bit taken aback.

"Listen" Tokuchi began before Itsuki cut him off.

"How about the first man to do thirty sit ups win?" He suggested. Tokuchi looked unusually relieved for someone ungifted in the athletic department. Tokuchi shrugged his assent, and lay down on his back. Takami joined him, and with a word they were off. Just as he reached thirty, he shouted "Done" and looked over at Tokuchi, who was struggling to sit up. "How many did you get to?"

"Twenty nine" Tokuchi said, a bit faster than usual.

"So it was pretty close, then!' Itsuki said, taking a couple of Tokuchi's bottles. "How about we go again so you have another chance" he suggested. Tokuchi shook his head at that.

"I think I'm done with sit ups for the night" he said, trying to will the contents of his stomach back to its rightful place.

They sat like that for a while, trying to think up other ways they could gamble, but both were far too drunk and tired to be coming up with anything.

"How about we try to bench press each other?" Takami suggested. Toa shook his head at that. There was no way he was lifting that heavy bastard up in this state. He was getting tired of these low stakes bets, anyway. They could only entertain him for so long.

"How about something a little more challenging, with higher stakes" he suggested wearily. Takami seemed to be okay with it, as he sat upright very quickly.

"That sounds good to me. I do have something in mind. Name your bet" he said, getting excited.

"What is yours?" Takami asked expectantly.

"Three hundred million yen, and a favor" Tokuchi said, feeling himself wake up and sober up a bit. Takami met his eyes and smiled.

"If I lose, I will give you three hundred million yen and a favor". It was here where Itsuki had to steady himself. "If I win, you come help me bring the team together again. You don't even have to help us reach the championships. We just need to get our focus back entirely". His words were met with a blank stare.

"If you think I'm stupid enough to fall for that again, then why are you asking for my help?" was the other man's reply.

"Because it could be interesting" Itsuki insisted.

"Not interested" Toa huffed, effectively ending the conversation. Before Takami could come up with another price, Tokuchi turned away from him.

Toa was at a crossroads. On one hand, three hundred million yen could buy more flashy cars and gold chains. On the other hand, the thought of going up against the Lycaons made him feel a certain way, and he did not like that. That was behind him now, and going back meant losing a piece of himself. But he did have fun. Toa made a decision. He was drunk and tired enough to say

"If I do lose, I won't be a player". Takami perked up at hearing this.

"You could be a consultant, or an assistant coach, god knows you've had enough experience coaching a team" he responded. Toa finally acquiesced.

"What kind of bet"?

Itsuki sprung up from where he had been sitting, and stood over Toa.

"I was thinking" he began before he was cut off by a loud bang. Someone from the floor above them had entered the stairwell. The party must have ended. "Wait!" He cried, "I left my card key in my room, can you let us through?" The man took in their rumpled, tipsy state, sidled by them, and swiped his card at the door before moving on. Itsuki lunged for the door, opening it. He gestured for Tokuchi, who had been picking up the bottles both empty and full, to go through first. After pausing in front of his door to punch in his code into the keypad, he stepped inside, with Tokuchi close behind him. After depositing his precious cargo on the nearest flat surface, Tokuchi turned to face him.

"I suppose that the bet is off now, huh" Tokuchi stated. Takami faced him and shrugged.

"Not necessarily, I'm still down if you are". Tokuchi cocked his head at this.

"So what kind of bet were you thinking?" he asked warily.

"I know just the thing" Itsuki murmured, grabbing a duffel bag from his closet. "Follow me". This time as they left, he made sure to tuck his key into his pocket. He could not have this happen again. The elevator ride down was silent, as was their trek down the block.

As they reached the nearest park, Toa narrowed his eyes. They were heading towards a bare bones baseball diamond. He wasn't sure he liked where this was going. After Takami dumped his duffel bag on a bench, he pulled out a bat and a ball. "I was thinking we could play that one outs game you like so much" the other man said. This was definitely not going the way Toa thought it would.

"That's hardly fair" he stated, irritated. "We both know you can hit my pitches". Takami gave him an unsettling smile.

"But this time, how about we switch. We both know you are terrible at batting, and I am a terrible pitcher. That way, we will be on an even playing field". Now that sounded more interesting. Tokuchi had only ever batted a few times in one outs, and that had been a while ago. He had batted in the league games, but that was different. He could have a slight edge, as he might have a bit more batting practice than Takami had pitching practice.

He nodded his assent, and picked up the bat. He grabbed a rock from the ground, and scratched a rough rectangle in the concrete below the cage to represent the strike zone. Ignoring Takami's scandalized look at the sight of the vandalized property, Toa adopted a closed stance over where the plate would be, and readied himself for the first pitch.


	3. Chapter 3

Itsuki readied himself, and threw his first pitch. Like Tokuchi, he could not throw a single breaking ball. His fastball whizzed by Tokuchi, and hit the far upper left hand corner of the cage. Tokuchi blinked at Itsuki, and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. As Itsuki readied himself for the second pitch, he almost smiled. He had no idea how he had managed to finagle Tokuchi into this situation. Tokuchi had a hell of a lot more to lose than he did. Just then, he released the ball, sending it careening dangerously close to Tokuchi's hands. Tokuchi obviously did not appreciate it as he pointed to the bat, then to Itsuki's head. Right, he would not be trying that again. He braced himself for what he hoped to be the final pitch. He wound up, and released the ball, only for Tokuchi to make contact. Only it happened to be poor contact, as the ball bounced uselessly off the bat onto the ground, where it rolled a few yards right to the border of out zone. Tokuchi took one long hard look at the ball and turned to Itsuki. "Fuck off" were his only words.

Toa must be some kind of masochist to keep signing his life away like this. Why had he thought it was a good idea to pull this shit again? Oh, yeah. Money. At least it was more than last time, and no retirement bullshit mixed in. But that didn't lessen the sting. He felt hot and cold at the same time. His stomach dropped. Not that he was showing any of this. On the outside, he looked cool as a cucumber.

Itsuki thought Tokuchi was about to throw up. Or punch him. Maybe both. "You okay?" he asked hesitantly.

"Yeah" was the other man's only reply. "When do I start?" He asked in a slightly dazed voice.

"Let me talk to the coach first. Then I will let you know". The walk back to the complex was done in silence. Just as they reached the parking lot, the sun began to peek over the skyline of the city in the distance. After they exchanged phone numbers Tokuchi turned to leave. "Are you going to be okay getting home?" He asked, thinking of the boozy all nighter they had survived.

"I'll be fine" Tokuchi replied, as if still in a daze. Itsuki watched as Tokuchi got in his flashy car, and drove off into the sunrise. This would not be fun to explain to the coach. Or their owner.

Over the next couple of days, Takami spent the vast majority of his time convincing, begging, prodding, and pleading with his coach and Owner Tsutsumishita. Finally, he had secured a place for Tokuchi as the assistant coach's assistant. The pay would be less than stellar, and the hours would be worse, but it was a decent salaried position, which he should hopefully be okay with. He wouldn't be getting any flashy cars, but he would get to see more of the inner workings of the baseball world, and most people in his age range would jump for that job.

Toa was feeling less than stellar. He was nursing a hangover, dealing with another big move, getting ready to start a new job, and he was about to meet up with someone he thought he would never see again. He had meant to do this errand a long time ago, but he had kept putting it off for reasons beyond his comprehension. When he walked into the team conference room, he saw Kojima sitting down with his back to him. As he made his way over, he felt dread in the pit of his stomach. He should have just done this through the mail, and be done with it. But he had to explain what he was about to do, so they didn't misinterpret him. Not so much as to spare their feelings, but to spare his neck in case they tried to jump him after going AWOL for half a year. He sat down next to Kojima, who met his eyes, and smiled wearily at him. He obviously knew this was not a social call. Toa, who intended to keep this a business-like and impersonal as possible, brought out the sheaf of documents that he had already signed. They only needed Kojima's signatures and initials, and they could be on their way.

"If you're here for the reason I think you're here, then I'm guessing this is the end of your relationship with the Lycaons" Kojima murmured.

"If you think I'm here to sign the team over to you, then you are absolutely right" Toa stated. He set the sheaf in front of Kojima, who was significantly paler than when he had first sat down.

"Why me?" he asked.

"Who more than you deserves it?" Toa asked, letting this be the only emotional moment of the day. "I know you won't let them fall apart like anyone else might". As Kojima slowly started signing and initialing, Toa gave him a rundown of what would be happening in the next few months.

"So you are going turncoat on us, huh" Kojima said. "Which team will you switch to next?" Toa couldn't quite tell whether he was just teasing him, or whether he was seriously hurt. Most likely both. He had a right to be. He was being kind of a bastard, abandoning them and switching teams.

After Kojima finished signing, Tokuchi stood up, collecting the papers. "After these get notarized, I will mail these in. The other owners have already been alerted". With that, he stood up, considered clapping Kojima on the shoulder in a friendly fashion, but quickly reconsidered. He never did those gestures when he was on the team, so there was no reason to start now. He turned on his heel, and walked out of the stadium as fast as he could. The next time he would be here, he would be trying his hardest to bring about the victory of another team.

Thank you so much to all who have read, and very special thanks for all who have favorited! These first few chapters will be pretty short, but later chapters will be longer.


	4. Chapter 4

It was the first day of Toa's new job, and he could not dread it more. He would be given his assignments, and introduced to the team. Whom he had to bring together again. After tearing them apart. At least he had had fun doing it.

He pulled into the stadium employee parking lot, and made his way inside; ignoring the looks he got from some of the stadium staff. One glare from some intern would not faze him. He had gone through worse.

Two hours later, he was trying to think of a situation that was worse. He had met with the coaching staff, and it would appear he was not the most popular person on the team. He didn't really expect to be popular, but when he received his duties, it became apparent that he had a long way to go before he could make any progress. Forget ignoring the interns- he might as well be one. His duties included sorting recruiting documents, running files to and from the marketing agency four miles away, getting coffee, making photocopies, and doing whatever else the coaching staff told him to do. All of these duties in addition to bringing the team together, and refocusing them. Toa was less than ecstatic.

He began his day by running the newest recruiting rosters between Coach Imawano and his boss, Assistant Coach Takahashi. They were favoring recruits from the Toudai by far this year. After filing away the rosters, he ran out to the maintenance shed to take inventory for the maintenance staff. They were dangerously low on dirt and chalk, so he made sure to make note of that in his to do list. He would have to discuss the ordering process with the head of maintenance. After making his rounds of the stadium and collecting inventory from the first, second, and third base coaches, he made his way back to the supply closet that served as his office. He still had to make a coffee run, introduce himself to the new interns, and put together a team building schedule for Coach Imawano. He felt about ten years older. He still had to wade through all of these monotonous tasks before he could even get started on what he was here to do, and even then, he was slowed down by bureaucratic bullshit. After arriving, he was informed that "things work differently here" and the methods that he used with the Lycaons "would not be acceptable". They loved making his job as miserable as they could.

After what seemed like an eternity, Toa had finally finished all of his duties for that day. He had gone out for coffee, gotten back only to have the coaching staff change their orders and send him back not once, but twice. His meeting with the interns was awkward at best. None of them knew how to interact with him, and that was true the other way around. They were about the same age, and that was where what they had in common ended. He may have to work on that later. He had finally put together a schedule that Coach Imawano had finally approved of, but it was filled with useless drivel like trust falls. No way was he going to get anywhere with weak garbage like that. Work completed, he took an opportunity to glance at the clock, only to realize that it was eight o'clock. He had taken an entire day to do a short list of glorified chores. He hadn't even had time to take his lunch. Just then, he heard a knock on his door.

"Anybody in there?" Itsuki asked, wondering if Tokuchi hadn't already started to head home. Since it was the offseason, most of the coaching staff liked to head home a bit earlier than usual. Right as he was about to turn around and head home himself, the door opened, and Tokuchi emerged, looking a bit worse for wear.

"What do you want?" Toa asked warily. He hadn't seen much of Takami since their ill-fated match. He had no idea what he was doing here now.

"I was thinking we could go out for a drink or something. You look like you've had a hell of a day" Takami said.

Toa had to suppress a shudder. "Better not. Remember what happened last time?" he said, trying not to think about what another drunken night might bring about.

"Ah, you've got a point" Itsuki murmured. "How about coffee, then? I know a pretty good place near here".

Toa seriously considered turning him down, he really did. But after the day he had, he needed some caffeine, later hour be damned. Thinking back to his new apartment and the empty refrigerator, a scone didn't sound bad either, considering the one meal he had managed to fit in that day. "Sure" he said as casually as he could.

They made their way outside, and Takami stopped by a light blue sedan. "Hop in" he said nonchalantly. "It's a bit far to walk, so I can drop you off by your car afterwards". Toa gave him an incredulous look before getting in. It was a mid-priced sensible car. Why he had it when he could afford better was beyond Toa. No matter, he was off to get his fix. After a few minutes, they pulled into the parking lot of a short building with large windows. Once they entered, Toa looked around. It was a small local looking place. Lots of comfortable chairs and desks,none of which matched. Takami walked up to the counter and ordered a chai latte. After reading the menu, Toa ordered a house blend coffee with room for cream and a scone. Takami led them to a couple of chairs by the window to wait for their drinks. There was a drawn out silence that quickly turned from comfortable to awkward. At least Takami was polite enough to not comment on how fast he had finished his scone.

"How was your day?" Itsuki asked, genuinely curious. He wondered how Tokuchi was handling all his new responsibilities.

"Busy" Tokuchi said, not making eye contact.

"Did you not have time to eat?" Itsuki asked, feeling a bit smug. Tokuchi had contributed to the mess they were in. He might as well suffer a bit while he fixes it.

"I had other things to do". Tokuchi looked as if he was going to say more, but the barista called them to come get their drinks.

They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes as they enjoyed their drinks. "You've had a day, haven't you?" Takami asked, peering over at Tokuchi.

Toa felt it was safe to respond. "They kept me busy. My patience is being tested".

Takami seemed to find that funny. "They tested your stamina too, didn't they"? he asked, giving Toa a wry smile. "Maybe this is what you really needed to get ahead on the field".

Toa glanced over at the other man, and raised an eyebrow. "I needed your help to win like a fish needs a bicycle".

Takami did his best to look scandalized. "I facilitated this amazing experience for you, and this is how you thank me?" here up0 said, doing his best to keep a straight face.

Toa was less than impressed. He tipped his mug towards Takami, threatening to spill the scalding liquid on his lap. "I'll show you my thanks in due time" he said ominously.

The rest of the evening passed quietly. After they finished their drinks, Itsuki dropped Tokuchi off by his car and headed home. As he passed the stairwell without a glance, he pressed the "up" button on the elevator. As he watched the numbers tick down to the ground floor, he heard familiar voices. Mitsuko and Takeo. As soon as he heard the chime of the elevator opening, he rushed in, and repeatedly pressed the "close door" button. He was not ready for that confrontation. After getting off on his floor, he scooted into his apartment, yanked off his shoes, and flopped down on the couch. As he relaxed, he couldn't help but think back on the past few days and wonder if he did the right thing. Whatever the outcome, at least he got to put Tokuchi in his place a little bit after last season's defeat. That would make it all worth it.


	5. Chapter 5

Toa was sitting in his office, wasting time. Yesterday, he hadn't had much interaction with the team, but today, contact would be unavoidable. He had already ordered all the supplies the coaching staff needed, and the team roster was finalized and submitted. He was supposed to be on the field in ten minutes to meet with the team and formally introduce himself as Assistant Coach Takahashi's new assistant. He would be present during training, drills, and practice games before they broke left for winter break, and after they came back for spring training. The team most likely knew what was coming, seeing as he'd been running around the stadium like a madman the previous day. Hopefully Coach Imawano and Takami had told them all the details so they didn't try to attack him out of shock. He would speak slowly, and avoid any sudden movements. As the minutes ticked by, he stood up and walked out of his office. He might as well stop trying to delay the inevitable.

As Toa made his way towards the field, he saw the team clustered around the coach. When he got closer, he caught the attention of several players. They didn't exactly look thrilled. Kawanaka, Amami, and Brooklyn he remembered, and judging by their looks, they apparently remembered him as well. No matter, as long as they didn't tear anyone to shreds, his job would be done. No need to get anyone to like him.

Toa stood by Coach Imawano, and waited for his formal introduction. While he stood there, he kept his head held high with a neutral expression, and his feet shoulder width apart. He decided it best to look confident, but not cocky.

"Anyway," Coach Imawano said "This is Tokuchi. You all remember him from last year. No need for introductions". At this, a few of the pitchers started to look a bit unsettled. "He will be Coach Takahashi's new assistant. He's been recruited to help us come together for the new season. Try to get along". Kira and Mizuhashi looked a bit relieved. With that, Imawano was finished with him, and moved on to discuss the regimen the different coaches would be going over with each group of players for the last half of their postseason practice schedule. Tokuchi would oversee the practice with a few other observers to get a feel for the team dynamic.

After watching for a while, Toa started to get an idea of what may be the team's biggest flaws. The first and foremost issue they would have to address would be communication. They would also have to work on basic teamwork. It would seem that there were still several players who would not interact with each other. They also needed to learn more basic teamwork. On an individual level, everyone had overwhelming skill, but as a whole, they had issues utilizing those skills when in action. Fair balls had dropped between Takami and Kira several times due to each thinking the other had it. Thomas missed an easy pitch because he had misread a sign. It was these little mistakes that could really add up to make the team brittle and uncertain.

After observing for a while, he made his observations known to Coach Imawano, who surprisingly took his word for it. He most likely had noticed it himself, but decided it best to delegate the issue.

When practice ended, Coach Imawano gathered the the outfielders, and ordered them to meet with Tokuchi to go over some suggested improvements. Brooklyn and Amami didn't look too pleased to hear that. When they had all settled down in one of the meeting rooms in the clubhouse, Tokuchi entered, and stood at the front of the room.

"When I observed your practice today, I noticed several issues in your teamwork" he said slowly. "What I noticed was that most of the mistakes you made lead back to miscommunication" he continued, looking over in Amami's direction. "If you intend to make it very far this season, then you will have to work on communicating effectively, and without letting yourselves be caught up in any outside distractions" he said, glancing over to Brooklyn. Takami tried not to cringe. Tokuchi was obviously trying to bait them. That might not go over well, especially with Brooklyn.

"Why are you lecturing us about teamwork when you're pretty much the base of the problem?" Yamakawa asked suddenly, drawing their attention.

Tokuchi was not fazed. "The issues were already there" he said, "I just happened to see them for what they were".

Yamakawa looked less than satisfied, but he kept quiet. He probably wanted to avoid making a scene.

Tokuchi sighed. "The only reason I was able to do what I did was because there seemed to be a disconnect between the players brought in by the trade and some of the players that were displaced" he said as he looked around the room. "My intention today was to inform, and not to argue. I will leave you with that information". With that, he turned and left.

The room erupted into a low hum of angry muttering and discontented murmurs. Amami and Brooklyn hadn't broken off into their own little segmented groups, but that was more likely to prove a point than to actually improve. Takami stood up and did his best to get their attention.

"I know it isn't great having him here" he said, and a few heads turned. "I know it might not have been right for me to bring him here" he continued, and with that, he had the room's attention. "I just think we should give him a chance to help fix what he did" Takami said, very aware that he was probably becoming less popular by the second. "If we don't, we might just finish what he started". After finishing, he swept out of the room, and ambled towards Tokuchi's glorified broom closet, hoping to catch him before he left.

Itsuki caught Tokuchi right as he was about to leave. "What the hell was that?" he asked loudly, catching Tokuchi by his elbow. "Why were you baiting them?" The blank look on Tokuchi's face only served to anger him more. "You're supposed to be bringing them together, not starting fights".

Tokuchi yanked his arm away, and got in his face. "I was proving a point" he said. "They obviously don't see how their ignorance is working against them".

Itsuki shook his head. "Still" he continued "There is absolutely no need for you to antagonize Brooklyn and Amami like that. We all know you saw a weakness and exploited it, but that doesn't mean you have to rub it in".

Tokuchi rolled his eyes at that. "Really" he said nonchalantly "You are being dramatic. They're grown men, and they can advocate for themselves".

"Whatever" Itsuki spat. "Just try not to be an asshole next time". After gauging Tokuchi's expressionless face, he turned on his heel and stormed away.

Toa stood there for a few moments, allowing himself to calm down a bit. He had honestly thought that Takami was going to escalate that spat to a physical altercation. Thankfully, he seemed to have more self-control than that. He locked up his office, and made his way out to his car. This would be a lot harder than he had previously anticipated.

The next day when he walked up to his office, Takami was already there, waiting for him. Toa stayed on guard, readying himself in case a punch came his way. But none did. Instead, Takami walked up to him, looking somber.

"Listen" the other man began "I'm sorry about going off on you yesterday". Now that was unexpected. Before Toa could say anything, Takami continued "I just want you to try and get along with the rest of the team. Brooklyn can be hotheaded, but he really is a great guy. And Amami is one of the nicest people you will ever meet. You just need to put in some effort, and stop antagonizing them. If you just show them you're invested, they'll be on your side".

Toa heaved a sigh. "So you came by to apologize and tell me to play nice". Takami gave a little half shrug, and stood there expectantly. Great, now he probably expected an apology. But none would come. "I will do my best to not antagonize anyone on purpose" Toa acquiesced. "But don't expect me to go out of my way to make friends".

Takami sighed. "I wouldn't expect anything more" he said, before walking away.

After that day's practice, Toa gathered the players that hadn't been at the previous day's meeting. He noticed that Kawanaka and Thomas were sitting front and center, eyes boring holes in his head. They must have heard how the previous day's meeting must have gone. It would be fine though, he would take Takami's advice to heart and try and antagonize them a bit less.

"I will keep this short" he said, standing up. "What you need to work on is communication. So far that has been your biggest issue, and the root of pretty much all of your problems". Before he could go on, Kawanaka interrupted him.

"From the way I see it you were the one that ruined everything last season" Kawanaka said, with a sharp edge to his voice. "In my opinion, you and your bullshit comments were the root of all our problems" he said loudly. Toa had a choice to make. He could engage, and feel good about himself, or take the high road in hopes of earning the team's respect.

"If you had communicated better, I wouldn't have been a problem for you" Toa said simply, making his choice. "Maybe if you had noticed the flaws in your infrastructure earlier, my comments wouldn't have made a difference one way or another." He would have gone on, but a sudden blunt force caught him on the left side of his face, slamming his head into the wall. He had not expected that. As he sat there a little dazed, he watched a few people file out of the room after Thomas. Toa could guess that the offending fist was attached to him. With all the dignity he could muster, he stood up, and dusted off his pants, ignoring the warm fluid trickling down his chin, and walked out of the room. As he continued down the hall, he let the gravity of the situation sink in. He had really fucked up this time.

Once he made it to his office, he sat down with a thud, and grabbed a rag out of his desk drawer. On his way down, he had caught his reflection in a window. He wasn't looking so hot. His nose was bleeding pretty bad, and he might have split his lip, but he couldn't tell with all the blood. He leaned forward, and pinched his nose with the rag to stave off the nosebleed. Good news was, his nose wasn't broken. The bad news was the pain. And embarrassment. He had been punched out in front of a room full of people, and hadn't done anything about it. All for running his mouth. He could see now that his usual tactics were not going to work here. Just as he was beginning to feel at the bump forming on the back of his head, his office door slammed open, and Takami rushed in, slamming it shut behind him.

"What the hell happened?" he yelled, ignoring the sour look Toa shot at him.

"I was trying to hold a meeting" Toa said, doing his best not to splutter blood everywhere as he spoke.

"Well you obviously didn't take my advice" Takami cried, growing more irate. "What the hell did you say to get Thomas to hit you like that?"

"I was just trying to hold a meeting" Toa said as calmly as possible. "That's the way I did it with the Lycaons, so forgive me for thinking it would work again".

Takami stood there for a minute with trepidation in his eyes. "Thomas is the most calm, levelheaded person I know" he said, finally beginning to calm down. (")He has the patience of a saint. Whenever there are brawls on the field, he pretty much never fights. You must have said something really awful".

Toa did his best to not roll his eyes at that. "Well the good news is, I learned my lesson early on before anybody could get hurt" he said with a sarcastic edge to his voice.

"Not quite, the other man said. "You did". At this, he pulled a folding chair out from behind the door, and sat down slumped over with his chin resting on his hand.

"Well no shit" was Toa's only reply before he went back to nursing his still bleeding nose.

They both sat quietly for the next few minutes. Toa managed to stop the bleeding, and began inspecting his lip and the back of his head. He had cut the inside of his lip on his teeth from the blow, and he would most likely have a good sized bump on his head for a few days. Takami was the first one to break the silence.

"Was I wrong to bring you here?" He asked, gazing over at Toa.

"I don't know yet" Toa answered slowly. After another few minutes, Takami stood up, and walked out of his office.


	6. Chapter 6

The coaching staff decided it best to ignore the events of the previous day, and make a fresh start. Today,Toa met a few players at a time on the actual field, as the coach felt he just inspired confrontation in the meeting room. Coach Imawano was usually nearby, keeping an eye on him. Currently, Toa was meeting with Amami, Takami, Brooklyn, and Kawanaka. He had just explained how to verify orders from the bench using signals, so they wouldn't misinterpret orders. As he spoke, he noticed that Amami and Kawanaka had averted their eyes from his bruised face, which he appreciated. Takami(,) on the other hand, refused to break eye contact. He did not appreciate that. Brooklyn was just looking at a point over his left shoulder, most likely making an effort not to stare. After he had finished explaining, he decided to let them try the new signs he and the other members of the coaching staff had come up with. Kawanaka looked a bit discontented with his instructions.

"Is there a problem Kawanaka?" he asked carefully. No need to antagonize him and get a repeat of yesterday's performance.

"No" Kawanaka said. "I just don't see how this is your job. Any other coach could have taught us these signs. I thought you were just here to teach us teamwork," he said with a bit of detectable sarcasm.

"You're right" Toa said. "I should be helping you with teamwork". At this point, he felt safe enough to mess with them a bit. "We'll start with teambuilding exercises". At this, Kawanaka started to look a bit horrified. "Let's start with some trust falls. Amami with Brooklyn, and Takami with Kawanaka". Amami looked like he would rather fall backwards into a wood chipper. After gauging the varied looks of disgust on their faces, Toa continued, "Or we could practice signs. I will be so kind as to let you choose the activity you would prefer".

After they had unanimously decided to practice signs, Toa decided to give them some space, and retired to the dugout to sit down for a minute. Just as he sat down, he heard someone else join him. "What do you want, Takami?" he asked.

"I just wanted to know how you were holding up" he answered, glancing over his face again.

Toa had had just about enough of that. "Anything you find interesting?" He asked, challengingly. Takami refused to take the bait.

"That looks painful" he said simply. Toa didn't respond. He didn't want to get into this again. The confrontation was over, the coach had made Thomas apologize, he had taken some painkillers, and put the whole thing behind him. In his books, that was history. It was time to move on.

Beside him, Takami sighed. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to(,)" he said "But just know that nobody thinks anything less of you because of it". At this Toa glanced over to Takami, and maintained eye contact. "Most of us realize that you can't go ten minutes without insulting anyone, and that it isn't personal" he continued, keeping eye contact. "We'll be breaking for winter next week, and you won't see much of anyone until spring practice begins. It would be nice if you could at least make nice with a few people before we all go our separate ways".

Toa rested his head against the back of the bench, staring up at the ceiling. He really didn't want to be having this conversation. He gave a noncommittal grunt, which seemed to satisfy Takami, as he got up and left without another word.

Over the next week, Toa made a bit of progress with the team. Progress meaning he didn't antagonize anyone into resorting to violence again. A few of the batters left from (from?)Brooklyn's old group still held out, but for the most part, he had the team's grudging cooperation. Nobody tried to talk to him, nicely or otherwise, which was perfectly fine with Toa. He intended to get the next ten months over with so he could move on.

On the last day before the break?, the coaching staff had planned one last meeting. The remaining team members who hadn't bothered to stick around for postseason practice were required to show up, so the meeting room was more packed than Toa was used to. As Coach Imawano thanked the team for all of their hard work, he felt a presence next to him. Glancing over, he was unsurprised to find Takami invading his personal space.

"What are you doing over the break?" he asked softly, completely ignoring the coach.

"Getting settled, mostly" Toa muttered. He hadn't had much time to get moved in due to his tight work schedule.

"You don't know too many people around here, do you?" Takami asked. Toa's only reply was an eye roll and a sigh. At this, Takami spoke again "If you want, you can come over to my place for New Year's Eve. If you don't have any plans, that is" he offered.

Toa shrugged. "I'm not sure what I'll be doing then." He was going to flat out decline the invitation, but when faced with Takami's perky expression, he merely stated "I'll think about it". Takami seemed satisfied with that answer, and went back to pretending to listen to the coach's speech. He stood by Toa with their shoulders touching for the rest of the meeting.

Over the next few weeks, Toa didn't really hear from anyone on the team. Every once in awhile, he would receive a request from the coach to complete some minor task, but none of them took longer than a day to complete. He mostly filled his time with gambling. He always took awhile to find new places to gamble, usually illegally. Gambling in legal establishments never quite gave him the thrill that gambling in seedy little illegal casinos did. He never really gave Takami's invitation any thought until evening on New Year's Eve.

He had been lounging around his apartment for the past few days, and needed to get out. He didn't feel like trudging through the snow to go out, but he had a serious case of cabin fever. Just when he was considering calling Big Mama, he remembered Takami's invitation. That might not be too bad of an idea. Takami wasn't unbearable to be around, and there would most likely be a few other people at his apartment to serve as a buffer between the two of them. Making up his mind, he he flipped his phone open, and scrolled to Takami's contact number. Pushing the doubts out of his mind, he pressed the dial button. After a few rings he picked up.

"Hello?" The other man answered.

"Is the invitation still open?" Toa asked, not bothering to declare himself.

"Sure" Takami said. "Come over around seven?".

Conversation over, Toa hung up first. Glancing at the clock, he decided to start getting ready. He pulled on a button up shirt and nice pants that may have been a bit too tight for good taste. But they were warm, and they may go to a shrine that evening. With that in mind, he tucked a scarf into his coat pocket, and headed out.

Toa decided it was a good thing he left when he did. Traffic was a nightmare. He got to Takami's building just as the clock struck seven. When he got up to the front doors, he pressed the call button on Takami's floor. Without even answering, Takami buzzed him up. He must have company, then. That was a relief.

Ignoring the stairs, Toa got on the elevator, and shifted on his way up to Takami's floor. After knocking on his door, he only had to wait all of fifteen seconds before the door swung open, and Takami filled the doorway.

"Come on in" he said a bit breathlessly, ushering Toa into his apartment. After handing his coat over to Takami, Toa looked around. There was nobody else there. Toa suddenly felt very stupid. He would be spending New Year's Eve alone with Takami Itsuki. May god have mercy on his soul.

Itsuki stood there dumbly for a minute. He hadn't really thought that Tokuchi would come. He wasn't quite sure what to do at this point. Tokuchi looked just as lost as he did. Suddenly, he got an idea. "Want to watch a movie, and then go to the shrine?" he asked.

"What kind of movie?" Tokuchi asked, seeming as indifferent as ever.

"Come over and we'll pick one" he retorted, leading them over to his VHS collection. After a few minutes of perusing his collection, they settled on Die Hard. Christmas had come and gone, but it still fit the holiday mood. Takami felt generous, so he got a bottle of his favorite whiskey, and sat it next to the pizza he had heated up. This was shaping up to be an uneventful evening.

About half an hour into the movie, they were a quarter of the way through the bottle. Neither of them spoke to the other. They were both comfortable sitting on Itsuki's tiny couch. After a while, Tokuchi stopped cramming himself against the arm of the sofa in an attempt to avoid contact with Itsuki. After another half hour and another quarter of the bottle, Tokuchi let himself lean against him ever so slightly. While Itsuki could appreciate the physical contact, he was starting to feel a bit too warm. He needed to move away from Tokuchi, bit that would mean breaking contact. Just as he was about to get up and turn down the thermostat, Tokuchi looked over and caught his eyes.

Before Takami could open his mouth to say anything, Tokuchi slowly approached him before pressing their mouths together. Takami sat there in shock for a heartbeat, then let his eyes slip shut as he melted against Tokuchi. Tokuchi moved closer, curled his legs under himself, and wrapped one arm around Itsuki's neck and the other around his waist, holding their bodies together. Itsuki slipped his hands around Tokuchi's waist, and opened his mouth, trying to deepen the kiss. Tokuchi responded well, flicking his tongue against his own. After another minute, Tokuchi broke the kiss, looking somewhat shocked at his own actions. Itsuki stared right back at him, not quite sure what to say. Slowly, Tokuchi, turned towards the television, and broke eye contact. They sat there quietly watching the last half of the movie while staying close.

ooooooooooooo

I apologize for the delay in posting this chapter. School and work have finally caught up with me, so updates may be a bit more sporadic for a while. I will do my best to keep updating as regularly as possible.


	7. Chapter 7

The next morning, Itsuki woke up with a throbbing headache. The whiskey from the night before had obviously disagreed with his system. He tried to roll off of the couch to grab a painkiller, but was stopped by a heavy weight on his legs. Looking down, he saw that it was Tokuchi. That had conveniently slipped his mind. As he untangled his legs from Tokuchi's, he tried to remember the night before. They had kissed. That he remembered in perfect detail. Afterwards, they had watched the rest of the movie, and finished off the bottle. That was probably a bad decision. He could infer that they had passed out soon after that. He stooped down to look through the fridge to look for ingredients for hangover food. Eggs would do nicely. After cracking them and whisking them in a pan with some milk, he heard Tokuchi stir from the other room.

"Are you up?" he asked loudly, catching the other man's attention.

"Unfortunately" was his reply.

As Itsuki scrambled the eggs, he watched Tokuchi walk into the kitchen and grab a seat at his table. He looked a little ruffled. That made him feel a certain way, and he was not quite sure what that meant. He chose to file that thought away for him to analyze at a much later date. They are breakfast in silence; neither man mentioned the happenings of the night before. After they finished, he saw Toa off at the door, and watched him walk down the hall to the elevator. He doubted either of them would ever trust a stairwell ever again.

Toa drove home as fast as he could. He had fucked up. He had royally fucked up, and he could hardly blame alcohol this time. He had imbibed half a bottle of whiskey, yes. But he still knew what he was doing. He was probably just lonely because he was still meeting people here. He hadn't had a decent lay in a while. He had gotten caught up in the romance in Die Hard. He could keep making up excuses, but he knew he had knowingly kissed Takami Itsuki, and that burned at him the entire way back.

Once he got home, Toa took a long hot shower in an attempt to scorch the embarrassment off. It did not work. He decided to banish all thoughts of Takami from his mind for the duration on winter intersession. If anyone could manage it, it would be him.

The rest of his break passed by all too quickly, and soon, Toa found himself standing in the chilly February air while he awaited Coach Imawano's instructions. They only had a couple of weeks before the players came back for spring training, and they had to make it count. Once he received his list of responsibilities, Toa felt the slightest bit annoyed. He would be working overtime for the next few weeks. As he made his way down to his office, Toa's thoughts started to wander. He would have to start working with the team soon, and he had very little to show for their postseason practices. He had taught them some signs and had them work on clarification, but that was just about it. If he wanted to make any progress this time around, he would have to double down and work twice as hard. He might even resort to being nice. He hoped it didn't come to that.

The next two weeks passed by quickly. Toa's life was once again ruled by the whims of the coaching staff -he and the interns had that in common. Despite his chilly demeanor, several of the girls had started to warm up to him. He didn't know whether to be flattered or concerned about them. It did make his life easier when he had help, though, and that was one of the only things he couldn't complain about for just as he was starting to feel a bit less on edge, the pitchers came back. They always came to spring training first.

Toa stood off to the side. He was doing his best to listen to the pep talk he was delivering to the pitchers, but he found himself distracted. Although he hadn't thought of the events of New Year's Eve lately, he couldn't help but cringe at the thought of seeing Takami again after that embarrassment. After another few minutes of trying to pay attention, he started to drift again, right up until the players all agreed loudly with something Imawano had said. With that, they all stood up and filed out of the room. Coach Imawano gestured at Toa from the other side of the room to walk with him.

"I have high expectation of you this season" Imawano said. "I hope your performance will improve in the next few weeks."

Toa didn't respond, but he did nod in affirmation. He would definitely make some progress before the rest of the battery arrived for spring training.

After they reached the field, Coach Imawano had the players warm up. Kira, Mizuhashi, and Kira were running through drills. Kawanaka started to stretch on his own. Imawano grunted in disapproval, and nodded his head towards Toa. Oh hell no. Toa was not about to go stretch Kawanaka's limbs. He wasn't that kind of coach. Imawano however, didn't seem to care, and simply glared at Toa until he reluctantly made his way toward Kawanaka, who looked like he was ready to strike at any moment.

Toa approached Kawanaka warily. The last thing he wanted right now was a foot to the gut. But Kawanaka just sighed and sat down on the turf.

"Let's get this over with" he said. "Imawano won't be satisfied until we do this so make it quick".

Toa nodded in response. Kawanaka almost surprised him how fast he acquiesced.

"What do you want to start with?" he asked, doing his best to be decent.

"Let's just get some isometric stretches in, and get it out of the way" Kawanaka said, lying down and stretching out his leg for Toa to grab.

After bracing Kawanaka's leg on his shoulder, Toa leaned forward, stretching out his hamstring. While they went through Kawanaka's stretching routine, he couldn't help but notice that the other players were no longer shooting him dirty looks at the frequency they had during post-season training. Maybe they had finally unfucked themselves, and had decided to concentrate on their real enemies. But it was far more likely that they were just too preoccupied by the pitching coach yelling instructions. Either way, he didn't really care one way or the other.

When he heard a grunt from Kawanaka, Toa released his arm from where he had been pushing it. Kawanaka stood up, brushed off his pants, and muttered a thank you before going off to join the team drill.

After receiving an affirmative nod from Coach Imawano, Toa made his way over to the bench to observe. While he watched the pitchers run through their drills, he ran through their statistics. They were from last season, and meant nothing of course, but he could see how they were affected by different situations. Kira didn't do well when yelled at. Takahashi threw poorly when he felt persecuted. Kawanaka was the dictionary definition of type A, and Mizuhashi still didn't get along with some of the second string pitchers. These issues would have to be addressed before the start of the season.

After practice ended, Toa turned in his latest report to Coach Imawano, who took it and grunted, just like he always did. But before he could leave, Imawano cleared his throat, stopping Toa in his tracks.

"I expect that you will make progress before the season starts" he stated, giving Toa a look that didn't inspire confidence.

"I intend to" Toa replied simply. With that, he turned and left. The pressure was on, and would only get worse from there. Next time he had the opportunity to gamble away another year of his life in a high stakes gamble, he would pass. No amount of money in the world was worth another year of this mess.

Over the next few days, Toa continued to do his mindless team building exercises under the watchful eye of Coach Imawano, who insisted it was for his own good. Toa did not appreciate that. Nobody did anything with his own good in mind. He sometimes had a hard time doing things for his own good. While he worked with the pitchers, he kept noticing discrepancies are the ways they interacted. His signs weren't working. They had practiced them and performed them as he had taught them, and they were better at performing orders from the bench, yet they were still struggling to work as a unit. They still functioned as individuals, and while that in itself could be of use, they were unable to take their individuality and make it work. It was getting to the point where something had to change. That day after practice, he called them over to the bench. "We need to try something different" he said, calmly facing them. "Although you seem to understand what I am telling you to do, you don't seem to understand why I am having you do it".

Then, Kawanaka chose that moment to interrupt. "So you've been having us do all of these useless signs and communication exercises for nothing" he asked, giving Toa a bit more attitude than usual.

Toa turned to face him. "They're not useless in general. Just useless for you. They served their original purpose well. You confuse fewer orders from the bench, and you throw more good pitches".

Mizuhashi glanced at Kawanaka before getting Toa's attention. "If we've been throwing more good pitches, then why are they useless?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Because you still constantly look for opportunities to snipe at each other. Whenever you of you screws up, you constantly berate each other, and while that isn't necessarily bad, I have noticed that you never recognize when you've done well. You need to recognize the positive as much as you berate the negative."

After that little speech, Toa had to swallow down the wave of nausea that threatened to overtake him. Never in his life had he imagined he would be forced to tell a group of grown men to play nice. He thrived on chaos, and here he was, playing guidance counselor and trying to force them to be more positive. By the way the group was looking at him; he could infer that they felt the same way.

After that little interlude, Imawano seemed to accept him a bit more. He had started to send the interns to get coffee, and had been giving Toa bigger tasks. While he appreciated not being sent out into the cold every time the coaching staff needed a fix, he soon found himself inundated with assignments. He had to start helping with a grievance system so the players could have better dedicated channels to voice their concerns with their teammates. He also had to learn how to use a computer to build a system the coaching staff could use to keep track of different statistics, and under what conditions those outcomes could be expected. He had only learned what a forum was a year before, and now they expected him to learn how to program the damn thing. This was probably a punishment of some sort.

Within the next few days, his desk was partially taken up by a huge new monitor and computer tower. What wasn't taken up by this space age technology was filled with paperwork, notes, and programming manuals. To make thing even better, the rest of the team was scheduled to come back that day. That meant four times the work and four times the pressure.

While he thumbed uselessly through the manual, which seemed to be written in a language made up of random English letters, numbers, and punctuation markers, he heard someone start to rattle on his door handle. Looking up, Toa sighed. It was the Coach, no doubt here to give him another assignment.

Instead, the unwelcome face of Takami Itsuki appeared. He knew without any doubt he would have to face him after his New Year's Eve fuck up, but he had hoped to maintain some semblance of distance. Instead, as per usual lately, he had no luck.

Toa slowly turned his chair towards Takami. "What brings you here?" he asked, keeping his voice even.

"I thought I'd drop by and say hi." Takami said, as he rested against the door frame. They sat there in an awkward silence for a bit before Takami's eyes rested on the programming manual in front of Toa. "Why do they have you working in C plus plus?" he asked. "Are you building a database or something?"

Toa let blinked up at the intruder. "Yes, I suppose I am." he said, finally conceding. "Know anything about it?" he asked, fully expecting Takami to shrug, or give a little quip. Instead, Takami barged right in past Toa and picked up the book and skimmed the page he was on.

"What do they have you working on exactly?" he asked, seeming genuinely interested.

"I'm building a database for player statistics." Toa answered simply.

"I've done something like that before." Takami said looking at Toa with a glint in his eye.

"What did you do?" Toa asked, figuring he'd humor him one last time.

"Kind of the same thing. A database for player statistics." he looked as if he was going to go on, but he stopped himself short. Strange.

Just as he was about to shoo him away, Amami stuck his head in. "Imawano is asking about you." he said evenly. "You might want to want to stop dicking around and start practice." he finished, maintaining a blank expression.

Takami glanced over at Toa before exiting the room. "I'll see you later" he said.

"Is that a promise or a threat?" Toa asked loudly enough for him to hear.

Amami followed Takami out the door, but paused and looked back at Toa. "You should ask him about his project from last season. You'd probably find it interesting." he said, before leaving for good.

Toa watched him leave, wondering what the hell he was talking about. After another hour or so of trying and failing to decipher the manual, Toa gave up trying. After locking up his office, he made his way to the interns' slightly larger office space. They might know how to figure this thing out.

Itsuki made his way out to the field, shooting Amami the occasional dirty look. "Why did you feel the need to get him riled up?" he finally asked.

Amami shrugged and said "He is going to find out about your boyfriend eventually. The longer you wait to tell him about it, the more likely someone is to show it to him and freak him out."

Itsuki did not appreciate that. "It's a pitching machine, not my boyfriend. Who the hell started that anyway?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at his teammate.

"Probably Kitaooji." Amami replied. "You know somebody is going to think it's funny to show that thing to him, and then he's going to think you're some kind of stalker."

"For the last time, I'm not a fucking stalker. I had to get extra footage for the projection." He would have said more, but they had arrived at the dugout, and he didn't want to continue this in front of his teammates. Amami, however, seemed to have latched onto the topic of his invention.

"Kitaooji" Amami said, gaining the other man's attention "Do you think Itsuki should tell Toa about how we beat him?"

Kitaooji snorted and faced Itsuki with a smirk. "Are you going to tell him about your boyfriend?" he asked, taking the baton from Amami.

Itsuki was getting very tired of this very quickly. "I know you started that shit." he said neutrally, glaring down at his supposed friend.

Kitaooji held his glance for a moment before beckoning Kawanaka over. "Hey Kawanaka" he cried. "Don't you want to show Toa our secret weapon from last season?" he asked, almost gleeful.

Kawanaka looked between the three men for a second or two before shaking his head. "I really don't see the point," he said. "That would just cause unnecessary drama."

Kitaooji shrugged. "That's pretty big of you." he said, backing down. "I've never known you to pass up the chance to be petty."

"There's no point in being petty right now. Definitely not with Tokuchi. We would only be proving the coach right in bringing him here if we went around starting petty bullshit. I don't want any part in started this, anyway?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at Kitaooji.

"It was Amami, actually." Kitaooji stated, finally conceding.

"That's not really like you to start needless drama. You usually have a better reason." Kawanaka stated, peering over at Amami who was looking pretty exasperated.

"It just thought he should get it out of the way before Tokuchi finds out about that thing on his own." Amami said. "I never meant for it to be this big of a should probably consider it before you get too-" Takami cut him off quickly.

"I know what I'm doing." he muttered before jogging off to stretch.

Kawanaka and Kitaooji went back to the practice field, and Amami soon followed.

After practice, Itsuki walked through the hall towards the parking lot, but decided to take a quick detour by Toa's office to see if he was still around. He wasn't being clingy. He just wanted to see if he was still around. He hadn't seen or heard from him after New Year's Eve, and he knew there was probably a pretty good reason for that. They had gotten too close. But it had been a couple of months, and he had moved past it. That didn't mean he didn't want to be friendly with him.

As he neared his office, he heard Toa talking to someone. Probably a man from the sound of it. Curious, he slowed down a bit. They seemed to be talking about the database Toa was working on earlier. When he reached Toa's door, he paused and looked in. One of the interns was showing him how to open the program he would use to make the database. He looked just as clueless as Toa did.

Before he could move on, the intern glanced back and made eye contact. "Takami" he said, looking relieved. "I heard you were pretty good at this stuff. Do you mind taking a look?"

Toa didn't look too pleased at the intern's request. "It's fine." he said. "Oeda and I are figuring it out."

Itsuki was torn. On one hand, programming was one thing he was good at. On the other, Tokuchi was not the easiest person to help. "It's alright." he said, silently cursing himself. "I don't mind showing you how to start." At this Oeda looked overjoyed. Tokuchi looked like he was marching towards his own execution.

Takami took Oeda's chair by Tokuchi, and showed him how to start his first file. Then, he created a header file, and named it player, giving it attributes. After that, he created the player file, and began to write functions, and started the get average function. After he had finished showing him how to start a line, he noticed the blank look on Toa's face. "Does that make sense?" he asked.

Tokuchi sighed and said "I have no idea how you did that or what it means. "

Itsuki rested his head on his hand. "They're punishing you for something, aren't they?"

"Probably." Toa stated.

Takami was about to say something clever until he heard a snort. He looked behind him to see the Oeda was still there. "You can go home." he said. "I can take it from here," before Tokuchi could protest, the intern reluctantly scooted out of the office.

"Why were you forcing that poor kid to help you?" he asked, smiling over at Tokuchi. "He probably wasn't even out of high school yet."

"He said he knew about computers." Tokuchi replied, rolling his eyes. "And he is well out of high school. He's a year older than I am."

Itsuki did not know how to feel about that. "How old are you, anyway?" he asked, genuinely curious.

"Why do you ask?" Tokuchi said.

"Just curious", Itsuki said, before breaking eye contact and turning back to the computer. "If you want, I can come by a bit early tomorrow and help you a bit more.

"It's fine," Tokuchi said "You have other things to worry about."

"Not really," Itsuki said. "Not since I got you out of the way".

"That didn't last too long, did it?" Tokuchi asked before trying to type something in, and nearly fucking everything up in the process.

Itsuki reached over and corrected Tokuchi's mistake. He did his best to ignore the glance Tokuchi threw his way.

"Are you ever going to tell me how you managed that?" he muttered.

"Maybe someday." Itsuki replied.

After another minute of Tokuchi trying and failing to code, and Itsuki correcting his mistakes as he made them, Itsuki glanced at the time. "We better get going. It's past 11". Tokuchi glanced up and shot the computer one last look before saving their progress and shutting it down. After locking the door, they made their way out to the parking lot together. "What time do you get here?" Itsuki asked as they neared his car.

"Usually around eight." Tokuchi replied.

"Eight a.m.?" Itsuki asked, giving Tokuchi an incredulous look. "You mean to tell me that you have fifteen hour work days."

"It sounds pretty bad when you say it like that." Tokuchi said. "It's not that bad."

Itsuki knew one thing, and that was that Tokuchi was a fucking liar. "I guess I'll see you at noon, then." he said before unlocking his car.

"You mean three. You aren't supposed to get here until three."

"Yeah, but I figured I could stop by and fix whatever damage you did to the program before then. See you tomorrow." he said, getting into his car and driving off before Tokuchi could protest.

Toa stood there for a minute before walking over to his own car. "Damn guy can't leave well enough alone, can he?" he muttered to himself before getting in, driving off.


	8. Chapter 8

The next day, true to his word, Takami showed up at 12:00 sharp. With him he had brought a couple of older spiral notebooks filled with illegible writing. Database notes, he said. After booting up the giant modem, Toa sat in silence watching Takami leaf through his notes. After an awkward ten minutes, the database was up where he had left off just a couple of hours before. He had to admit, he was proud of himself. He had pretty much figured it out. Yet, instead of praise and admiration for a job well done, all he got from Takami was a blank horrified look.

"What did you do? It all compiled." He looked like he was about to cry. He did not expect that.

Takami grabbed Toa's chair, and without a word, rolled him aside, taking his place in front of the computer.

After about twenty minutes of watching Takami type, mutter to himself, and groan, Toa began to get impatient. "How am I going to learn if you do it all yourself?" he asked, doing his best to not sound impatient. He couldn't afford to lose the other man's help at this point. He just wanted to play a more active role.

"After you read those." Takami said, gesturing to the notebooks on his desk. "They're pretty dumbed down, so you might understand them." At that, Takami tied up his hair and got back to typing and muttering.

Itsuki worked at the code for the better part of two hours before the program was up to snuff. He had the algorithm laid out, all he had to do was flesh it out. Looking over, he noticed Tokuchi had started on the first few pages of the second notebook, his own page of notes beside it. At least he was doing something. Deeming his work on the program done for the day, he suddenly stood up to stretch, causing Tokuchi to jump a bit. Itsuki stopped himself from smiling. It was kind of refreshing to see Tokuchi be vulnerable for once. "I'm pretty much done for now" he said. "Go ahead and look that over" he said before leaning in very close. "But don't touch anything." Tokuchi blinked slowly up at him, as if to question him. "If I have to fix one more compilation error, you are on your own," he finished, before swinging his bag over his shoulder and heading toward the locker room.

On his way, he noticed Oeda walking with a couple of other interns. "Hey, Oeda!" He called, catching the other man's attention. "How old are you?" he asked.

Oeda looked a bit frazzled at the attention. "I'm 21," he said. "Why do you ask?"

"Just curious" Itsuki replied as he turned to go to the locker room. As he left, he noticed the impressed looks the other interns were giving him. Thankfully that kind of attitude never lasted long with them.

"I can't believe he's only 20." Itsuki muttered to Amami as they stretched.

"Why?" Amami asked. "That's not terribly young." "Kawanaka started at the same age , and I don't hear you making a fuss about that."

"Yeah, but Kawanaka never gave me as much trouble as Tokuchi did" Itsuki muttered.

"He made you work for it" Amami stated as he stood up. "Maybe you should give Tokuchi some space. You've been in his office more often than not lately."

"It's nothing," Itsuki said, standing up to join him. "I'm just helping him out with a database".

Amami raised one eyebrow delicately at him, and then made his way towards the batting cages.

For the remainder of practice, Itsuki couldn't bring himself to concentrate on his drills, despite the batting coach's repeated pep talks. He had Tokuchi on his mind, and he could think of little else. He knew he was back there in his little broom closet ruining his code. He knew it. Tokuchi had said he would keep his grubby little paws off it, but the likelihood of that happening was pretty low. After half assing his way through his batting drills with both a live pitcher and the pitching machine, he made his way towards Tokuchi's office with no pretense of taking the long way to the parking lot. If he didn't check his code now, it would nag at him all night, and by the looks of his schedule that week, he needed that sleep.

After rounding the corner, Takami saw that the door to Tokuchi's office was already open. Fearing he already had company, Takami slowed his pace and listened for voices. Hearing none, peered into the office. There he was, scrolling through the code, most likely reviewing the damage he had done. He didn't seem to notice him though.

Itsuki paused there in the doorway, waiting for the moment where Tokuchi would fuck up, where he would try to touch his code. He did not have to wait long.

Unaware he was being watched, Toa scrolled through the lines of code. He had read through the notebooks several times, and he had a general idea of what he was looking at. Just as he was about to finish, he noticed what seemed to be a misplaced backslash. He could probably get rid of that. It was out of place, and would probably not be missed. Just as he placed his cursor over it, ready to hit the backspace key and erase it from this plane of existence, he noticed a reflection in his monitor. Before he could even react, Takami's fingers dug into his shoulders causing Toa to jump as he leaned in very close from behind him.

"What are you working on there?" The other man asked, with an edge to his voice. "You're not deleting anything, are you?"

Toa had to gather himself before he replied. He was not expecting Takami back this soon, let alone soon enough to catch him editing the database.

"It's out of place" Toa muttered.

"You're out of place" Takami retorted.

"That doesn't even make any sense" Toa said as Takami rolled his chair to the side.

Takami leaned down in front of the computer and surveyed the damage. Thankfully, he didn't find anything out of place. Toa had probably just recently decided to survey it, and hadn't had enough time to do any damage. As he scrolled through the lines, Toa wheeled himself closer to peer over his shoulder. After another few minutes, Itsuki stood up, satisfied.

"I guess you didn't have enough time to really do any damage, did you?" he asked, nudging Toa aside as he made his way out of his office.

"I was looking it over" Tokuchi said.

"Sure" Itsuki said. "Just do me a favor. Don't edit it without me". Seeing Toa shrug his assent, Takami turned to leave, satisfied. "See you tomorrow" he said as he walked off, leaving Toa to stare after him.

After Takami's departure, Toa sat in silence for a minute. That had been weird. He stood up and powered the computer down. There was no point in looking over the code anymore. Takami would probably sense him opening the program and come back to harass him some more. After looking around his office one last time, he locked up and headed home.

Later that night, Toa lay awake in bed, unable to fall asleep. There really was no reason for it. He had woken up early, and had worked all day. Usually he was gone by now, but for some reason, he just could not relax. Rolling over onto his side, Toa thought over his day. He had gotten to the stadium in time to attend a couple of coach's meetings, and after that, he had worked through the new grievance system. He hadn't had time to think over how he was going to bring the team together in a way that could be neatly packaged and presented to the head coaches for approval. He knew better than to try and use the same tactics again. What had worked with the Lycaons would not work here. Using his definition of teamwork would most likely divide the team further. He couldn't motivate them with money or mvp status. Really, he was just there to tell them to stop being bastards, and that didn't sit well with him. He didn't appreciate being forced into the role of a hypocrite. After ruminating for what seemed like hours turned out to be minutes as Toa rolled over again to glance at his clock. He had to be up in a few hours, and he did not like the idea of heading out for a fifteen hour work day with no sleep. This job would be the death of him.

Toa rolled over one last time onto his back, and did his best to clear his mind. He started evening out his breathing, and let himself relax. Once he got in the right headspace, he would fall asleep quickly. After a few more minutes, he was still as awake as he had been for hours. This kind of stress was foreign to him. He used to thrive in stressful situations, but now they were doing this to him. He had too much to do. He had too much to do before that damn database. Yet that was the one assignment he didn't really mind, despite his total lack of knowledge about computers. He did get to see Takami. Strangely enough,he didn't mind his assistance.

Toa quickly banished the thought from his head. That kind of sentimentality was not needed here. Toa closed his eyes and tried to relax.


	9. Chapter 9

The next week went by with little issue for Toa. The database was pretty much done, and the season opening was fast approaching. In less than a week, he would travel with the team and act as both an assistant coach and a consultant. He could say goodbye to the few meagre hours of free time he had managed to squeeze out since the start of his employment. While he wasn't exactly looking forward to it, traveling with the team sounded better than being trapped in his tiny office all day hunkered over his computer like a cubicle rat.

Later that night, Toa sat back and admired his program. He had no idea how he did it, but it was finally finished. Hopefully this last menial task would spell the end of his days as a glorified intern. With that, he shut his computer down and stood up, preparing to go home.

As if on cue, Takami opened the door and glanced over at the now dark monitor.

"Did you finish?" he asked, stepping closer.

"I believe so," Toa said before stepping around Takami to exit his office. Takami took the hint, and followed him outside. After Toa locked his door, he made his way out to the parking lot with Takami walking beside him.

"Did you want me to look over it one last time?" Takami asked, seemingly trying to make small talk.

"It's fine" Toa stated. "Thanks for your help figuring it out, though." Looking over, he was greeted by the sight of unusually huge blue eyes.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Toa asked, narrowing his eyes and widening the distance between them.

"You've never thanked me before. I've actually never heard you thank anyone," Takami said, blinking at Toa.

"Ah. I guess I haven't, have I?" was Toa's only response.

Takami grunted and didn't say anything until they reached the parking lot. Before Toa could turn to leave, Takami spoke up, catching his attention. "We should celebrate sometime," he said. "We worked hard on that project. And you really should get out sometime. I hear you avoid pretty much every social gathering involving support staff."

Toa paused for a second, gazing over at Takami. He couldn't have finished that project without him, and he probably did owe him something for putting in all that time.

"Fine," Toa replied. "Let me know what you decide". With that, he turned and walked towards his car, leaving Takami where he stood.

"Sounds good," Takami said to nobody in particular, then continued toward his car, trying to ignore the small rush that had just hit him. He honestly hadn't expected Tokuchi to go along with his suggestion. He definitely wouldn't complain, though. He had to admit, for all his many faults, Toa could be good company.

The next week went by with little time for anything other than practice and preparation for the season opener. Itsuki hadn't had time to walk by Toa's office, let alone drop by. Knowing him, though, he probably wasn't offended. Probably relieved. Nevertheless, he wanted to see him. Just to make sure he was still there. Not that he would run off before he fulfilled his end of the bargain. It was more like the fact that they were in the same building right now still didn't feel real.

Now that the season opener was tonight, however, he would probably see a lot more of Toa on the road. From then on, he was supposed to take a more active role in the team. Not that many people were pleased about it, and Itsuki had to admit to himself that he probably wasn't the most popular person on the team at the moment. But everyone else would come around.

Just then, Itsuki glanced up at the clock from his position in the stadiums club house. The game against the Eagles would start in about an hour. The stadium would already be filling up fast. He smiled to himself, and stood up with a few of his teammates and made his way down to the locker room.

The energy in the locker room was so high; he could practically feel it reverberating off the walls. It was pretty evident that they were all hell bent on starting the season off with a bang. After changing, he went out into the dugout where the coaching staff was already getting set up.

Coach Imawano was already giving orders to the assistant staff, and had his colleagues finish getting ready. Toa, of course had apparently finished his chores, and looked like he was itching to sprawl out on the bench. Itsuki silently nodded over at him to acknowledge his self-control. Imawano definitely would have flat out murdered him if he had even tried to sit down.

A few of their opponents were already on the field warming up. Okabe was already doing practice swings by the dugout. Mizuhashi and Yoshida seemed more relaxed than they were when they played the Eagles last. Now that they had time to settle in, they didn't seem as antsy.

After a few rounds of practice swings and pitches, Itsuki sat in the dugout watching the coaches determine who would bat first. He couldn't hear anything, but by the look on Imawano's face, it would be the Mariners. What luck.

It looked like the Eagles would be using one of their new recruits as a starter. Itsuki narrowed his eyes at him. He hadn't heard anything about this new pitcher, or what he could throw. Scooting forward, he watched as Kitaooji made his way up to the plate.

Kitaooji wisely let the first pitch turn into a strike. Turns out the new kid could pitch a mean slider. It didn't matter much to Kitaooji apparently, as he managed to hit the next pitch and make it to first. Sighing, Itsuki stood up and made his way out of the dugout, skipping his warm-up swings.

After stepping up to the plate, he made eye contact with the pitcher, and embraced the small rush it gave him. He could feel the energy from the spectators wash over him as he prepared to swing. Itsuki honestly couldn't understand why people did drugs when they could feel this instead.

The pitcher went through a normal windup, and released the ball, throwing at least 80 miles per hour. To some, that would be formidable. But any hesitation was soon erased when his bat made contact, sending the ball into the outfield with a satisfying SMACK.

After getting over to first, he waited for Amami to take the plate. While he waited for him to either get a hit or strike out, he let himself glance over at the bench. Toa was standing right next to the assistant coach, eyes trained on Amami. For a brief moment, it looked like he was about to glance over in his direction, but he was quickly interrupted by the sound of a bat making contact with a ball.

Itsuki ran towards second with all he had while an outfielder caught the ball in his periphery. Amami may have gotten out, but at least he and Thomas had made it to the next base.

Back in the dugout, Toa watched the game intently. While they were doing alright to begin with, he needed to look out for any mistakes or errors that fell under his criteria. So far, so good though. As of yet, they hadn't messed up too badly. While he waited for Amami to hit, he glanced over at Takami, who was also looking at him. Though before he could even blink, Amami had struck out and Kitaooji and Takami proceeded to the next bases over. So far so good.

The rest of the game went as well as they could have hoped, with them leading the score 6-2 at the top of the 7th. They were at bat. Toa had begun to get a feel for what this year's version of the Chiba Mariners may be. They seemed a bit more solid than last year, but he could still see the cracks in the wall. He was finally getting to work with the coaching staff more actively, and thankfully they would occasionally listen to him, making a note or two.

While they started the batting rotation, Toa looked over at the Eagle's bench. They didn't seem to be as high in spirit as they started out in. Hopefully they would let the point difference get to them, but that was unlikely, especially at the start of the season.

The rest of the game passed quickly enough, with the Mariners winning 10-6. Itsuki had hoped to win with a bigger margin, but they had won. The coaching staff was happy, the fans were happy, so he would be happy. On the way out, an assistant ran over and handed him his bags.

They would be traveling over to the Eagles stadium for the next two games. He had to admit, the perks of being a pro were way too good to pass up. Nice busses, people to pack your bag for you, even snacks on the bus. He felt some pity for those in the farm leagues right then. They didn't know how good they could have it.

Soon, he was on the bus. Some players had already fallen asleep somehow. He honestly didn't know how they did it. Everything had to be just right before he could sleep. He settled into his seat, resigning himself to a few hours of boredom while they travelled.

Looking around, he took inventory of the people around him. Brooklyn, Kitaooji, and Thomas were sleeping. Amami and Kawanaka were talking quietly in the front of the bus. Most everyone else were either watching the movie that played quietly on a few screens throughout the bus, reading, or listening to their walkmans. In front of them was the bus carrying the coaches, support staff, and a few media reps. Overall, it was shaping up to be a quiet ride.

Once they got to their hotel, Itsuki made his way off the bus to collect his bag. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Toa doing the same. He quickly straightened up and walked over.

"So, what did you think of the game earlier?" he asked, trying to make small talk as they walked in.

"It was alright. You guys managed to not completely screw it up" Toa replied lowly quietly

"Thanks" Itsuki said in return. "Are you going to bed yet?" he asked.

"Probably not." Toa said. "I'll just wait until my roommates are asleep."

"There you go again not interacting." Itsuki shot back.

"Not so much that I don't want them to watch me sleep. I know a few of them probably would." Toa said. Itsuki honestly couldn't tell whether or not he was being sarcastic. He honestly wouldn't put it past a couple of them.

"Want to get something to drink, then?" Itsuki asked. "Coffee, that is," he added quickly. No way was he going to drink right before a game.

"Sure," Tokuchi said.

After getting a recommendation from the concierge, Itsuki found himself in a 24 hour cafe with Tokuchi. Right then, he realized he didn't know what to say. He honestly didn't even know why he invited him. He could have gone to bed and gotten a full night's sleep, but he was seated next to Tokuchi holding a mug of pure caffeine.

"What's going on?" Tokuchi asked.

"What do you mean?" Itsuki countered.

"You invited me out of nowhere. I figured something was going on that you needed to tell me about."

Itsuki was embarrassed. "It's not like that," he said. "I do have people to talk to about personal stuff. Nothing's going on with me that you need to know about."

Tokuchi blinked at him slowly. "I meant the game," he stated.

"Oh," Takami said. "Yeah." He raked through the barrage of thoughts that were running through his head. "What do you think of that new pitcher?" he asked. "The one who can throw that slider?"

"I'm not too impressed," Tokuchi said. "He can pitch well, but he's easily distracted."

Itsuki grunted in response. He had noticed him getting off his game every once in awhile at the start. "I agree," he finally said.

"Really, Okabe is the only one on that team with any promise at all after you guys managed to get Mizuhashi and Yoshida." Toa said, eyes glinting with mirth.

"I can't disagree with that," Itsuki said, sharing Toa's look. "I was honestly disappointed in us when they got so close. We should never have had to work that hard to win against those guys." Itsuki continued.

"It was honestly kind of pathetic." Toa agreed. "At least you managed to keep from totally embarrassing yourself out there."

"Thanks," Itsuki said with a snort that could have been a chuckle. He was enjoying this. Nobody on his team had been too into shit talking lately. It was nice to just let loose. Before he could continue with their discussion, Toa stood up.

"I should probably get going before they lock the door for the night," Toa said. "I don't have my key card yet."

"That's fine." Itsuki said. "Goodnight. See you tomorrow."

Toa then gave him a rare half smile that could almost be seen as genuine in the right light, then left.


	10. Chapter 10

The next two games against the Eagles had gone well. They had managed to win with a few points to spare, no thanks to the starting pitchers. Now that they were done in Miyage, the team was on the bus back to Chiba. Thankfully, it was light out this time, which made it a more interesting ride in Itsuki's opinion.

Itsuki looked out the window for the remainder of the long drive. He had forgotten his music at home, so he did his best to ignore the cacophony of his celebrating teammates. He honestly wasn't feeling the mood, though. Their games had been a bit closer than he would have liked.

Once they arrived back at the stadium, he split up from the rest of the team and headed towards his car. He would probably crash at home early so he could be on time to practice the next day. The schedule could be downright exhausting at times, but the exhilaration of being on the field really made his hard work worth it.

The next day, Coach Imawano had gathered the first string players in the meeting room. Toa stood with the other coaches off to the side, out of the way of the projector. Their next opponents would be the Blue Mars. They would be starting off at the Mariners stadium, so they had a good shot at winning.

Toa had honestly debated giving subtle hints at the true nature of the Blue Mars' winning streak, but he had decided against it. He was here to help with teamwork, not winning. Plus, he wasn't too motivated to go that far above and beyond as of yet. Not for what they were paying him.

Besides, they may not even use the same tricks as before. They had probably gone one of two ways: get better at cheating and hiding their tactics, or get clean and play with honor. The latter was highly unlikely though. It really wasn't going to be an issue, however, as the first two games were home games.

Toa had other things to deal with. He was noticing the flaws of the previous season emerging. The outfielders were beginning to look down on the battery once more. The pitchers were starting to pull back from the team. They all were far too concerned with how the others were doing. Honestly, he just needed them to ignore each other, but not too much. He also needed them to stop being bastards to each other, but not to the point that they lose motivation to get better.

Toa crossed his arms, reading the eye of a couple of the other coaches before they turned back to Imawano.

"Really, all we need to do is focus on hitting off of Williams," Imawano said, glancing over at Toa as if acknowledging he hadn't been paying attention. "Outfielders, keep up the good work. Everybody else, try not to get hit off of too much. We've got a game to win." He finished, looking around the room.

The defense players looked satisfied, while the few pitchers who had been paying attention were giving each other subtle little sighs or eyerolls. After everybody had cleared out, Toa went back to his office, sat down, and leaned back in his chair as far as he could go. He was getting tired of everybody being willfully ignorant of their situation. It really wasn't just the players' attitudes he needed to fix. The staff were really just as bad.

While the coaches obviously tried to support the team, most of what they did was pretty damaging. Encouraging the rift between the pitchers and the fielders really wasn't helping them get along. He would probably have to have another meeting soon, and it would hopefully go better than the last couple he had had.

Two days later, Itsuki was lacing up his cleats in preparation for the game. He had gotten to the bench early to watch everything get set up. He really should have been warming up, stretching, or taking practice swings, but he was a bit distracted at the moment.

For the last few games, he had been far too focused on winning to think of much else. Now that he was in the swing of things however, he couldn't help but notice how Tokuchi was dressed. He was wearing the same partial uniform as the rest of the coaching staff. Grey pants, a team jersey with no number, and the coaching jacket. Nothing special. But the sight of the Mariners logo across his back made him feel a little funny.

It was probably because he was unused to seeing Tokuchi out of the garish yellow uniforms the Lycaons wore. No doubt about that! It did look good on him though. Those uniforms were meant to be flattering on older men, so of course it would look better on Tokuchi, who was far younger and better built than its intended wearer.

The increasing chatter of the growing crowd soon snapped him out of it. With one last glance over at Tokuchi, who seemed to be flipping through some charts, he made his way onto the field to hit some warm-up pitches. It probably wouldn't be too much of a hassle to win.

Two innings in, and they were struggling to keep up. Something had happened after the last season. The Blue Mars had always been weak at away games, so they should have been wiping the floor with them. But Williams was as nasty as ever. Despite his successes, he still wasn't pitching him any knuckleballs. He hadn't pitched any to Amami either. For some reason, they had both either gotten stupidly easy fastballs or had been walked.

Their batters had also been nasty, and their starting pitchers were struggling to keep up. Somehow, they had gotten much better at reading which pitches were going to be thrown since last season. Everybody was a little shaken, even Imawano, who tried his best to hide his anxiety. Before long, they were tied 9-9. They only had the rest of this inning and one more. They would be batting next, and he knew he had to break this tie.

While he waited for Mizuhashi to end this embarrassment, he made his way over to Tokuchi.

"What do you know so far?" he asked. "I haven't seen you tell the coaches anything. That means you're onto something."

Tokuchi looked over at him and narrowed his eyes. "I haven't really seen anything yet that deserves mentioning," he said, turning back to the field. Itsuki was having none of that. They needed to win this game and keep going strong. They couldn't lose their momentum. Even he could see the strain showing in the team.

"No idea." Tokuchi stated, not bothering to turn to look at him. "I do get the feeling though that Williams is coming out one more time."

That was surprising to Itsuki. Williams had already pitched for the first half of the game. He had to be wearing out. Nevertheless, Tokuchi could be right. If so, he would probably get another fastball or a walk, and since Amami was right behind him in the lineup, he could count on the same for him as well.

"Thanks for the heads up." Itsuki said, before heading back over to his spot on the bench.

"What was that about?" Amami asked, looking at him incredulously.

"Nothing really." Itsuki said. "Apparently Williams may be showing his face again next inning."

Amami looked over at him slowly, doubt written across his features. "Seriously?" He muttered. "Maybe he won't be pitching again for a few days."

"Maybe." Itsuki replied. "Just be ready for him if he does." At that Amami nodded at him just before they heard a third strike announced, giving them notice of the start of the next inning.

A few minutes later, Itsuki found himself at the plate, assuming the position. Tokuchi was right. Williams had come out for what they were no doubt hoping to be the last inning. Itsuki let the first pitch whizz by. Almost a ball. On the next pitch, he followed its trajectory, prepared to swing, and swiftly made contact with his bat. A fly ball to the outfield.

The fielder luckily missed the ball, giving him time to get to first. Next was Amami. Hopefully he would knock it out of the park. Itsuki wanted to end this disaster of a game now before the Blue Mars could embarrass them any more. With Amami on the plate, Williams threw another pitch that was likely supposed to be a ball, but Amami must have seen an opportunity, as he swung with everything he had, and sent it into the upper deck just past the home run zone. Takami flashed a smile at his teammate as he ran home, off the field. With that, they were 11-9. They would hopefully keep the lead.

With some luck, they did manage to keep it, ending the game on time. Takami's nerves were a bit frazzled. He wasn't expecting to have to work that hard. On his way out, he glanced up at the sky. The heavy clouds reflected his mood pretty well.

The next day, the rain began. It lasted well into the evening, and washed away any chance to play. As the team got the announcement in the club room, a groan arose from the gathered men. They all stood up and moved to change and pack their bags. Just when Itsuki was preparing to leave, he had a brilliant idea.

He caught Tokuchi right as he was about to leave. "Hey-" he called, stopping the other man. "Want to go celebrate now?" he asked.

Tokuchi looked at him like he was crazy. "Celebrate what?" he asked.

"Finishing the program" Itsuki said. "It's a bit belated, but we should still do it."

"Fine." Tokuchi said. "What were you thinking?"

"We could go to a casino or something. I hear you're into that sort of thing." Itsuki said. "Got any recommendations?"

Tokuchi snorted. "I don't think we should go to any place I would recommend. The people there would chew you up and spit you out. We could go to a more commercialized casino. There's one not too far from here."

With that, Itsuki found himself riding through the rain in Tokuchi's needlessly flashy car. Yellow wouldn't have been his first choice, but at least the car could be seen easily by others through the storm. The ride over was silent, occasionally punctuated by a clap of thunder. Eventually, they pulled under the canopy of a flashy casino, complete with dazzling neon lights. It must have been a nicer one, because Tokuchi passed of the keys to a valet without a word.

Once inside, Tokuchi crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at him. "Well?" he asked.

"Well what?" Itsuki asked back.

"I'll follow you." Tokuchi said. "This was your idea, and I do this pretty often." He turned to face the main floor of the casino. "Plus, I kind of want to see this. I wonder how badly you can lose before you give up."

Itsuki knew he was intentionally riling him up, but he still let himself fall for the bait. "Fine," He replied, before going off in a random direction. Soon he found himself in front of a low stakes roulette table. That wouldn't be too hard. No work on his part. Just make a guess and see what happens.

Itsuki walked up to the dealer, and put about 1,500 yen on black, ignoring the snort of derision from behind him. He understood that 1,500 yen was chump change for some master gambler or whatever, but he didn't want to lose a ton of money, and he didn't want to leave early. Soon, Tokuchi walked up beside him and put 3,000 yen on red, flicking his eyes over him as he did.

Itsuki, of course, lost, with Tokuchi walking away with 1,500 yen more than he had come in with.

Takami really didn't feel confident enough to play any card games, so he avoided those tables. After a few more minutes of wandering around looking lost, Tokuchi finally sat him down at a 100 yen slot machine.

"This is embarrassing," he said. "Just do this. You don't have to be good at anything to win on this one." Normally Itsuki would have bristled at the barb, but Tokuchi was right. After a few rounds, he had made back some of what he had lost. He had even managed to strike up a little conversation with Tokuchi about the merits of the system they had used for the database. Tokuchi obviously didn't know as much about computers as he did, so it was a bit one sided. Despite that, he was having a pretty good time.

Their conversation was soon interrupted by a momentous clap of thunder, accompanied by almost every light in the casino shutting off. They sat there in the dark, silent for a moment before everybody in the casino started talking at once, a few of the drunker women contributing to the din with their screams. Within seconds however, the lights were back on, and the sound of the slot machines booting up drowned out any sign of terror. Managers had flooded the floor, telling the patrons that the power was back in, but unfortunately there had been power outages across the town. Additionally, the road to the casino had been blocked by some debris knocked down by the storm.

Toa looked over at Takami with disgust, only to have his look matched by the other. No way was he going to be trapped here overnight with Takami Itsuki. Just then, he got an idea.

"Hey," he started. "Wanna get out of here?"

Takami nodded, but looked at him like he was crazy. "They said the road was blocked by a tree or something. We can't get around it."

"I know a way," Toa simply stated, then stood up. "I'm leaving. You're welcome to come too." With that, the two men made their way outside, but not before Toa snagged his keys from an incredulous valet. On their way out to the car, they were pelted with fat drops of rain, each gust of wind making the onslaught more painful than the last. Once they got to his car, they sat still for a minute. Both their shirts were completely see through. Well then.

After he was able to collect himself, Toa started the car, enjoying the familiar rush of the powerful engine. He then pulled out and made his way down the road, where, lo and behold, a tree had fallen, blocking both lanes of traffic.

"What was your plan?" Takami asked, confused. Toa looked over at him, face illuminated by the streetlights, then steered the car and gunned the engine so they were driving over the small field on the wrong side of the road. Takami yelped, losing some of his dignity, but was soon laughing as he rode in a car that had cost six figures through a field and around the giant tree. Toa couldn't help but join him. It was kind of exhilarating, even if he would need a wash after this. Soon, they were back on the main road, making their way back towards the stadium. Once they got there, the lighthearted atmosphere dissolved. Once Toa pulled into the spot next to Takami's, he made a choice. Probably a stupid one.

"Hey," he said, causing Takami to look over at him with two twinkling blue eyes. "You might want to review Williams's pitches. You'll probably find something interesting."

Takami looked puzzled, but nodded. "I might just have to do that," He said, before ducking out of Toa's car and into his own, then pulling away. Toa sat there for a moment, letting himself be mesmerized by the start swish swish of his windshield wipers. He really did need to stop hanging out with Takami Itsuki.


	11. Chapter 11

After the previous day's debacle with the storm, Itsuki was alright with avoiding Tokuchi. Hell, Tokuchi was avoiding him even more than usual. Pushing that thought aside, Itsuki turned his focus back to batting practice. Later that evening, they would play the Blue Mars. Thinking back to what Tokuchi said, he tried to think about what it meant. And the motivation behind it. He then decided that maybe it was worth looking into.

Itsuki called out to the second string pitcher that was helping him and let him know he was stopping early. The pitcher did his best to not look relieved. On his way over to the AV room, Itsuki thought about the game that night and what Tokuchi meant when he said to check out Williams's knuckle ball. Once he got the tapes set up, he settled back to observe.

After about 5 minutes of watching pitch after pitch, Itsuki felt a bit sick. There was no way around it. That knuckle ball was spinning. That was bad. Very bad. He had to tell Imawano. He honestly had no idea how Tokuchi had caught that if even he hadn't seen it from the bench. He sat there for a minute in shock, trying to reconcile what he saw with what he knew.

The Blue Mars had always been polite and sportsmanlike. They had always tried their hardest, and they truly seemed to care for each other when they did interviews. Itsuki's hands fisted on the table. How could they have all been so blind? If they were willing to risk a fake knuckle ball, who knows what else they were pulling? Itsuki stood up suddenly, knocking his chair over backwards. He paused for a second, and made his decision.

On the way to the coach's office, he reviewed what he knew. One. The Blue Mars had to know Williams was cheating. Two. Tokuchi somehow found out. And three. This would no doubt blow up into a huge scandal. He had no idea whether or not Tokuchi would get blowback for his discovery.

Itsuki had no idea how this hadn't been caught yet. Didn't they have people whose whole job was to analyze pitches? He was confused as hell. Why would they want to cheat anyway?

Just then, Itsuki started to get angry. How had they not seen this? How had he not seen this? No wonder he wasn't pitching knuckleballs to him or Amami. They would have noticed it. At that, his confidence in his teammates wavered a bit. How had they not noticed?

As Itsuki stormed down the corridor, he felt his anger fade a bit. This wasn't his teammates' fault. He should have noticed the knuckleball way sooner. His anger was quickly replaced by disappointment as he came to a stop in front of the coaching offices. He took a deep breath, and then knocked on the door.

Ten minutes later, his ears were ringing as he stood by half the coaching staff in front of the projector. They had gotten an audiovisual tech to slow down the footage and zoom in. The quality was horrible, but Itsuki was able to show some evidence as to the nature of the knuckleball. After the video ended, he stood there dumbly along with the other occupants of the room. Slowly, Coach Imawano stood up and turned so that he could face the entire room.

"As you all know, this is extremely distressing," he began. "While I am certain that Takami is right about this knuckleball, the league chairs may be thrown off. They certainly won't do anything before the game tonight. Even if we do expose them now, we would be the ones looking foolish. Who knows how long they've been pulling this? Williams has been playing for quite some time now."

With that, the rest of the coaches started muttering amongst themselves.

"We could try to appeal after the game," Assistant Coach Takahashi suggested.

"We would look like sore losers," Second Base Coach Oeda countered.

"You're assuming we'll lose again, aren't you?" Assistant Batting Coach Tanaka spat.

Before the hoard of coaches could start the brawl that had apparently been a long time coming, Coach Imawano raised his voice.

"We'll catch them during the game," he said. "There's no way we can let them get away with making us look like fools in front of the entire country." There was some muttering from the coaching staff, but not one spoke up against him. Finally, he turned to Itsuki. "How did you find out about this fake knuckleball?" he asked. "Why didn't you catch it before?"

Itsuki glanced over at Tokuchi in the corner of the room. He still maintained his usual icy exterior. "Tokuchi pointed it out," he finally said, shamefully. "I never caught it. Tokuchi mentioned that he thought something was off." Itsuki paused, realizing that he could be getting him in trouble. "He didn't say anything to you because he wasn't sure, and didn't want to cause a fuss. He figured that I would see if anything was wrong with it," He finished lamely.

Coach Imawano looked over at Tokuchi suspiciously. "Didn't want to cause a fuss, huh? Sounds just like you." he said, then turned to face him all the way. "Fine then. How did YOU manage to catch it?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.

Tokuchi however, didn't seem to be bothered by the sudden suspicion cast over himself. "The other day, the ball was moving strangely, and in the playback, it didn't move like a typical knuckleball."

Coach Imawano sighed in exasperation. "So you're telling me that some rookie was able to catch what could be the biggest scandal in recent memory by watching a few playbacks?" He took his hat off and rubbed his face. "How was it, then, that our own analysts weren't able to catch it?"

Tokuchi shrugged. "I was wondering the same thing myself," he said. "I'm obviously not anything special since I'm an assistant to the assistant coach, but somehow I was able to catch it".

Coach Imawano glared at him. "You're here on special consideration. If I were you, I would watch my tongue."

Tokuchi looked back at him, unperturbed. "If I were you, I'd be embarrassed."

Itsuki saw the situation quickly escalating, so he quickly interrupted. "We get it!" he began. "The point is, we found Williams out, and now we need to catch him in action. All we need now is a plan."

The tension in the room dropped palpably after he spoke, and Coach Imawano turned away from Tokuchi. "Fine," he said. "As I was saying, we need to catch them in action. Otherwise, we'll have to face a much larger investigation. One I'd like to avoid if possible. So." He said, turning his attention to Tokuchi. "You'll be assisting us tonight." With that, he picked up his jacket and his hat, and walked out of the room, leaving everyone behind.

The rest of the coaching staff left soon after that, one actually pausing to compliment Tokuchi on his catch. Finally, it was just the two of them left in the room. "Why did you tell them I caught it?" Tokuchi finally asked.

"Because it was your find. I wanted to make sure you got credit where it was due," Itsuki replied.

"I really don't need your help with that," Tokuchi said, before turning and walking out of the room, leaving Itsuki by himself.

Itsuki stood there for a moment, going over the interaction he had just had. For some reason, the confrontation with Coach Imawano wasn't bothering him nearly as much as it should have. He was more perturbed by Tokuchi. He was being given an opportunity that most people in his position would have given their right nut for. But here he was, asking him why he didn't take all the credit. That guy really needed to get some new friends. The ones he had obviously weren't treating him right.

That night, Toa was standing in the dugout next to Imawano in full uniform. He was officially on coaching duty tonight, something he had not agreed to. He was supposed to be helping with teamwork, not strategy. But one glance over at Imawano, and he knew that not even he could argue the issue down. He would be assisting the head coach tonight, and he better act like he's enjoying it. Glancing out over the field, he felt a familiar little thrill in his stomach. Even though he was being forced to do this, he had to admit to himself that he was probably going to have fun. He had fun when he beat them the first time, and to Toa, it looked like they had gotten better over the winter intersession.

Looking down, he flipped through the charts and figures an assistant had provided him with before the game. The Blue Mars were in good shape today. Poor guys didn't even know what was coming. They had to have some idea of what the Mariners were capable of, knowing he was helping them now, but their performance in the first game probably reassured them that he wouldn't be participating. Looking over at the players on the bench, Toa caught Takami's eye, and gave him a little half smile. The prospect of the upcoming beatdown was putting him in a good mood.

Once the batting order had been determined, the game started with a bang. Rodrigo got a pretty good hit off of Mizuhashi, but thankfully it rolled to Takami on third, who was able to get it to first in time. Close call though. After a mediocre beginning, most likely due to sign stealing or whatnot, they were up to bat. Williams stayed put in the Blue Mars dugout. So Toa stayed put next to Imawano, listening to his comments and delegating the signs he was ordered to give, leaving the batting lineup to do what they did best.

Soon though, they were up by five points with good hits by both Brooklyn and Thomas, and a pitcher change was announced. Williams would be taking the mound. He looked over at the Mariners dugout, made eye contact with Toa, and smirked. Toa smiled serenely back, causing Williams to falter briefly. Nobody liked it when he smiled genuinely. Before Kitaooji could go out, Toa gave Imawano the sign that he would tell him what to do, then signalled Kitaooji to strike out. Kitaooji grimaced at him, then sighed in acquiescence.

Kitaooji followed Toa's instructions, and struck out on the third knuckleball Williams threw. The bastard was really showing off tonight. The next few batters struck out without any need for Toa to tell them to, and the inning was over. Mizuhashi held them off beautifully in the next inning, and after only six at-bats, they were at the top of the second. The next few innings stretched out like that, with only Takami and Amami getting hits. Before long though, Toa was getting bored of assuring the Blue Mars that he wasn't going to mess with them, then signalled Imawano again. After giving Thomas the go-ahead, his plan was in motion.

Thomas, now aware of the fake knuckleball, was given the momentous task of fouling the ball, which, after two strikes, he did beautifully. The ball sailed into the net, but before it could be caught, Thomas was running to first. Williams looked over sharply in shock, then glanced over to the catcher to see what he would do, but it was too late. Thomas was much faster than they had anticipated, and was already on first. Williams briefly bent over, putting his hands on his knees. Probably having a flashback or something. His moment of shock didn't last long however, and he was back to pitching. He was obviously on to them, as he didn't pitch a knuckleball for the rest of the inning, surrendering a few more points.

Toa knew Imawano was beginning to get impatient with how slow the revelation was coming, so he figured that he'd speed it along. Surprisingly enough, he just wasn't feeling another game of cat and mouse. Next inning, he would finish it. The Blue Mars were up to bat, and Mizuhashi was looking ready to hold them off. Toa looked over to tell Imawano that he was going to the back for a minute, but was interrupted by someone violently yanking him down to the ground. Before he could even react, there was a loud CRACK, and splinters flew everywhere. Toa looked around from his position on the ground. Everybody was either staring down at him, or over at Rodrigo, who briefly tipped his helmet and shouted an apology. Looking up, he could see that a bat had struck the wall where his head had been only milliseconds ago. Looking to his right, he could see that it was Amami who had yanked him out of the way. Toa made the motions to thank him, but he was already up with the other players shouting at Rodrigo and the umpire. Toa sat there for another second before he got back up. He shook it off and took his place next to where Imawano would have been had he not been yelling at a referee.

Toa sighed shortly and concentrated on getting back to the game. Rodrigo was suitably admonished, and things were back on track. Honestly, Toa should have expected that. The flying bat really didn't deter him. It was honestly kind of funny. It was a nice throwback to when he just about took that pitcher's head off.

By the next inning, things had progressed enough that Toa felt comfortable going ahead and finishing things. With a sign, Thomas fouled the ball, although he hit it hard enough to blast its guts out, exposing a sliver of something that seemed to catch the umpire's attention. A little sliver of ice. They had not only weighted the ball with water; they had frozen it. That would give it less distance when it was hit. Unfortunately for Williams, it also left solid evidence of his misdeeds behind. Unsurprisingly, he and the catcher were ejected from the game. Toa smiled at him one last time as he was being escorted off the field.

Sometimes the simplest solution was the most effective. He doubted another team could have pulled it off. To hit it with that kind of precision in such a way that destroys the ball, exposing something suspicious, took a level of skill that only a few players had. He had enjoyed the lead up though. By the time he was ready to act, the Blue Mars probably thought he was going to pull some complicated trick like he had last time.

Toa heaved a sigh, then took a seat. His work was done. He had exposed the knuckleball, now Imawano just had to yell and fuss enough that there would be some kind of retribution. Apparently Imawano was especially good at screaming and fussing that Shirooka soon emerged from the Blue Mars dugout and forfeited the game. That was a surprise. The mood in the dugout was suddenly brighter than before. After the attempted decapitation on his person, the team was significantly happier with the resounding boos and jeers the other team was receiving. Toa stood up and exited the dugout, leaving the team to their celebration. He had other things to do.

Before he could make it too far, someone came up behind him, and shoved him into the locker room, slamming him against a locker. Toa blinked away the stars, and shoved the other man away. Expecting an attack, Toa thrust the heel of his hand up to break the other person's nose, but paused. It was just Takami.

Takami maintained eye contact with him for a second, looking overwhelmed, then kissed him long and hard, pressing him harder into the locker. They stood like that for a second before Toa opened his mouth, deepening the kiss before wrapping his arms around the other. After a minute, they pulled apart, looking at each other. Toa had never seen Takami look so vulnerable. That, along with the elation of grinding the Blue Mars into the dust spurred him on, and he yanked Takami back to kiss him harder than before.

Takami was obviously excited about the victory too, but judging by the press against his side, he was obviously excited about something else. Toa reached down with one hand, grabbed Takami's hip, and pressed it into his own. Judging by the gasp he got, he had the right idea. Before long, they were both out of breath. Takami pulled away first, and buried his head in the crook of Toa's shoulder, lips ghosting over his neck as he muttered something incomprehensible. The nearing voices of his teammates seemed to knock some sense back into him, as he muttered a quick apology, and rushed deeper into the locker room, leaving Toa standing alone once more.

* * *

I hope everyone is enjoying my fic so far! Just a heads up; the rating will change next chapter.


	12. Chapter 12

The next day, Itsuki was sitting in his apartment trying not to think about his stupidity the day before. He had gotten so caught up in the elation of the win, relief that the bat didn't kill Toa, and amazement at seeing Tokuchi in action that he had acted impulsively. To be fair, Tokuchi hadn't stopped him. At least not after he almost broke his nose. He had to admit to himself though, it was kind of hot that he would just try to fight him acting on reflex alone. Itsuki sighed to himself. He really did need to stop this thing with Tokuchi. They hung out too much, and they had already made out twice. This wasn't going anywhere good. Just then, he got a text. Tokuchi, of course, saying they needed to talk.

That was it then. Nothing ever went well when someone vaguely texts you, telling you that you need to talk. Itsuki heaved another sigh, and texted Tokuchi back, asking for a time and place. Tokuchi of course, requested neutral ground. The coffee shop they had gone to on his first day with the team. Itsuki grabbed his keys and wallet, gave his apartment a once over, then walked out the door.

Twenty minutes later, he was sitting in the coffee shop, waiting for Tokuchi to show up. Of course the bastard would set up a time, make him anxious, and keep him waiting. He was probably going to tell him to stay the hell away from him from now on. For one reason or another, that hurt. While he definitely had come to terms with the fact that he was attracted to Tokuchi, he had also come to like him. He was intelligent, had a sense of humor, and was overall really interesting. He had his flaws, and a lot of them, but Itsuki honestly considered him a friend at this point. The events of the past season seemed so far away now, and any lingering animosity had taken a backseat sometime since the beginning of the season.

Before Itsuki could ruminate more, he heard the chime of the bell on the door ring. It took every ounce of his self-control to not turn around while Tokuchi ordered. Before too long, Tokuchi sat himself beside Itsuki. Itsuki did his best to not look anxious, but it became apparent that he was doing a piss poor job. Tokuchi sat his drink down beside himself and leaned back on his chair, crossing his legs.

"I'm guessing you know why I texted you, right?" he asked.

"I'm not stupid," Itsuki responded, trying not to cringe at how rude he sounded.

"Thankfully." Tokuchi responded. Itsuki made to interrupt, but Tokuchi held up a hand, silencing him. "Listen," he said. "I don't mind being around you, and that's a lot for me. You aren't all that annoying, and you're able to hold your own against me. I don't find many people that can do that. I don't want whatever went on last night to mess with that."

Itsuki quickly interrupted. "Neither do I," he managed to say before Tokuchi interrupted him.

"Good. So how about this: we stay friends, because that's what we are at this point," he said. "For now at least," he amended. Itsuki sat quietly in relief. So Tokuchi really wasn't interested after all. Not surprising. But it was a relief that he thought they were friends. He honestly felt a bit warmer when he heard that. Tokuchi wasn't done talking yet, as he cleared his throat to get Itsuki's attention and continued. "I wouldn't be opposed to continuing a physical relationship though. I've done it before. It's easier and less messy than a relationship, so everybody will be happy," he finished. Itsuki sat there for a minute staring at Tokuchi. He wanted to get physical with him. He felt a bit of a tingle in the pit of his stomach when he heard that.

Toa let his offer absorb for a second. Takami looked a bit shocked at his suggestion, and he didn't blame him. Had it been the other way around, he would probably feel the same way. Before long, the other man seemed to snap out of it, as he took a deep breath and let it out. "I'd be fine with that," he finally said. Toa half smiled then stood up.

"Good. I'm glad that's resolved then," he said, then walked over towards the door. As expected, Takami followed after him, managing to hit his shin against the corner of a low table on his way. Toa ignored the cursing from the other man, then paused at the door. "You should probably get to practice," he said, looking Takami up and down. "You wouldn't want Imawano to get on your ass, would you?"

Takami snorted then spoke up. "So you're going to basically become my friend with benefits, then ditch me?" he asked.

Toa tilted his head to the side a bit, and raised an eyebrow at the other man. "You really want to do something here? In front of a city street full of people?"

Tamaki looked around reluctantly, and then shook his head. "Ah, probably not. I doubt you need the media attention right now,"

Toa blinked at him slowly. "I probably don't. They're lambasting me enough for going turncoat. I really don't need any more ammunition against me,"

"As if you care about that," Takami said, smiling wryly at him.

"I really don't," Tokuchi said before walking past Takami. "But you probably should," he said quietly as he walked away, leaving Itsuki to wonder what he meant by that.

Itsuki couldn't concentrate. For as long as he could remember, he was able to clear his mind of whatever was distracting him when he was playing baseball, but today, he was just out of it. The other players were starting to notice. The batting coach looked worried. Itsuki quickly brushed him off, saying something about how his shoulder felt stiff. That was the wrong thing to say in that moment, however, as he was promptly sent inside for a massage. Just one of the many amenities that made being a pro worth it. Usually. Today however, he just couldn't wait to leave.

Finally, the massage therapist was done with him. Apparently his shoulder was full of knots. Not surprising, considering the stress he was putting his body under. On his way out, he stopped. He probably had time to swing by Tokuchi's office. He thought about that for a second. Should he keep calling him Tokuchi? Or were they on a first name basis? That would probably need to be figured out. Before he got close to his destination, he ducked into a bathroom to check his appearance. Goddammit, he was acting like a teenager. He would still primp a bit anyway. Once inside, he combed his fingers through his hair. It was getting a bit long. It was slightly past his shoulders now. Next, he straightened his button up shirt and adjusted his slacks. He adjusted his piercings briefly, then headed out, intending to stop getting distracted.

A few minutes later, he was standing in the doorway of Tokuchi's office. Tokuchi seemed content to ignore him as he filled out some papers on his desk. Itsuki quickly ran out of patience, and cleared his throat, forcing Tokuchi to acknowledge him. "What are you up to?" he asked once Tokuchi finally looked up.

"Not much. Just filling out an incident report for the game the other day," he stated. Oh yeah. That was still a thing that happened. "I'm just about done," Tokuchi said, nodding his head over at the folding chair Itsuki had used when he was helping Tokuchi with his database. That felt like years ago now. After about ten minutes of watching Tokuchi fill out paperwork, Itsuki was startled out of the trance he's worked himself into when Tokuchi stood up.

"I'm leaving now," Tokuchi said. When he saw Itsuki look up at him hopefully, he gave him a little half smile. "You're welcome to join me if you so choose," he offered. Itsuki stood up and followed Tokuchi out of the room. "So how do you want to do this?" Tokuchi asked as they walked.

Itsuki was thrown for a loop. He knew Tokuchi knew what he was there for, but he didn't think they'd get right to it. The newness of the situation didn't help. Tokuchi took his silence for hesitation, and stopped walking. "We can wait if you want," he said. "We don't have to start right away."

Itsuki brushed a long strand of hair behind his ear and nodded out towards the parking lot. "I'm down for anything," he said, bracing himself. He'd been with both men and women before. He knew what to expect. Tokuchi glanced over at him skeptically.

"Whatever you say," he said. Once they were outside, Tokuchi stopped him. "How do you want to do this?" he asked. "My place, your place, or..." Tokuchi began before he faded off. By "or" he probably meant a hotel. That was a bit too impersonal.

"My place is fine," Itsuki said. "Do you want to go together or separate?"

"Separate," Tokuchi said. "I have some things I need to take care of later on."

"Gambling?" Itsuki asked, unsurprised.

"Mhm," Tokuchi confirmed. With that, they went their separate ways, and soon they met up again in front of Itsuki's building. They silently rode the elevator up to his floor and walked over to his door. "Sorry for the mess," Itsuki said before opening the door and stepping in, knowing full well his apartment looked fine. Tokuchi followed him closely, and shut the door behind him. They stood there for a minute, Tokuchi absentmindedly looking around, probably looking down on his plain but cozy living room. Itsuki on the other hand, was starting to feel it. He could practically hear his pulse, and he already felt the heat in his chest.

Itsuki finally tired of standing there, and stepped closer to Toa, who placed his hands on Itsuki's shoulders, looking him right in the eyes. They were the exact same height. He hadn't really thought of that before. Before he could over think things more, Tokuchi closed the distance between them and kissed him softly. Itsuki inhaled slowly as he let himself be kissed. He was a bit surprised. He had expected Tokuchi to be a bit more aggressive. Itsuki quickly cleared his mind, and slowly kissed Tokuchi back, wrapping his arms around Tokuchi's waist. They stood like that for a minute. Itsuki let himself enjoy the warmth of their closeness, along with the slowly rising heat from his core. Before he could deepen the kiss further, Tokuchi leaned back and wiped his mouth off on his hand. Itsuki should have been offended, but he was still so absorbed in the heat of the moment that he didn't care.

Tokuchi glanced around the apartment for a couple of seconds before Itsuki realized what he was doing. He was looking for the bedroom. He inhaled sharply at the implication, made a decision, and went towards his bedroom, Tokuchi following closely behind him. He opened the door, but didn't have time to stand there like a fool, as Tokuchi was right on him, his hands roaming over his chest, up into his hair, and back down again. He must have liked what he felt, as he quickly started to unbutton Itsuki's shirt and pull it off his shoulders. Itsuki quickly got with the program, too, and began unbuttoning Tokuchi's shirt as well, slowly exposing his chest. He didn't look nearly as strong as he was. He pushed the thought from his mind as he began to run his hands over Tokuchi, before sliding them down to his belt. Tokuchi fisted one hand in his hair, when he yanked his head over to the side before nipping and sucking at his neck.

"Don't leave any marks," Itsuki managed to gasp out as Tokuchi ran his nails lightly down his back.

Finally, Itsuki pushed Tokuchi away so he could concentrate on getting his pants and shoes off. Like a fool, he'd worn his shoes into his bedroom. Then again, it wasn't like he was in his right mind at the moment. Looking over, he confirmed that Tokuchi was doing the same. After a few seconds, they were both standing there in their underwear, wondering how to proceed.

Toa was a bit thrown. He's had male lovers of course, but they had never done anything like this to him before. He could feel a flush creeping up his chest, and his mind was in disarray. He couldn't concentrate on schooling his expression, and he was breathing heavily. All he wanted to do was get closer to Itsuki Takami. He had no ulterior motive, and he wasn't rushing to get this over with so he could gamble. Any other time, this probably would have been concerning to him. But for now, he was fine with losing a bit of control over himself.

Toa approached Takami slowly. The other man had seated himself on the bed, leaning back a bit to brace himself on his elbows, legs partially spread just enough so he could lean down and kiss him. It didn't last long however, as Takami quickly laid down, bringing Toa with him, then rolled them over so that Toa was on bottom with Takami pinning his wrists. That wouldn't do. Toa quickly jerked his arms up over his head, destabilizing Takami, and then jerked his hips to the side, using the momentum to roll them over, reversing their positions. Toa sat there, straddling him with his hands braced on either side of his head.

"Seriously?" Takami asked.

Toa tilted his head a bit, smirked, and slid his hand down the front of Takami's briefs, lightly grazing his length. Takami stifled a gasp, and grabbed Toa's hand. He had no intention of turning this into a quickie hand job scenario.

"Let's speed this up a bit," he murmured, then grabbed Toa, kissing him soundly. He briefly dipped his fingers into the waistband of Toa's underwear, making him tense up, but quickly withdrew them. Takami then shoved Toa off to the side, surprising him, so he could dig around in the drawer of his bedside table until he evidently found what he was looking for. Before long, Takami had brought out a condom and lubricant. He looked at Toa with smoldering eyes, and with all the dignity he could muster said "Whoever gets the condom first gets to top," then threw it over his shoulder.

The ensuing scramble off the bed left Toa with a bruised knee and Takami with sore ribs, by the look of it. Toa lunged into the corner of the room, only to have Takami grab him by the ankle and drag him back, giving him a small rug burn. Toa retaliated by kicking Takami firmly in the gut, momentarily winding him while he threw his dignity to the wind and searched for the missing condom. Takami may be stronger, but he was more agile. Finally, he saw the telltale shine of the wrapper. Just as he was about to grab it, strong arms wrapped around his waist, and tossed him aside. Toa took the brunt of the fall on his right elbow. He was sore, rapidly tiring, and having the time of his life. He got to fight someone and have sex in the same evening. He would probably cap it off later by winning several hundred thousand yen from some hapless loser while enjoying a nice drink. God, but if he didn't live a good life.

Toa quickly caught up to Takami, darting past him, and grabbed the condom, grinning up at Takami. Takami looked down at him with dull eyes, as if accepting his fate. "Well then," he said.

A while later, they both laid there, staring at the ceiling. This was always the awkward part. Toa was never sure of whether to stay for a bit and cuddle, or leave right away. He honestly couldn't see himself cuddling with Takami just yet. Luckily, he didn't have to worry. They both lay there for a couple of minutes before Takami broke the silence.

"You alright?" he asked, looking over at him slowly.

"Yeah. You?" Toa asked.

"Yeah," Takami replied.

After a few more minutes, Takami seemed to come back to himself. "You can go ahead if you want" Takami said. "I know you've got other plans tonight".

Toa felt a bit of relief. He'd worried that Takami would have asked him to stay the night. That would have made things weird. Or at least weirder than they already were. "Thanks," he said. "We should do that again soon." After he dressed, Takami grabbed him by the shoulders and kissed him one last time before seeing him out. On his way to his favorite seedy little casino, Toa couldn't help but notice that his feeling of satisfaction had quickly been replaced by a sense of confusion. That threw Toa for a loop. Confusion was one sensation he could comfortably say he was unfamiliar with.

* * *

Hello everybody! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Just to let you know, I do have a full version on AO3. If you're above 18, feel free to check it out!


	13. Chapter 13

Itsuki woke up slowly, relishing the feel of his clean sheets against his skin. Opening his eyes, he laid on his side and watched the sun slowly creep up his wall. Before long, a telltale soreness set in. Just then, the events of the previous night came back to him. He stilled for a moment. He had had sex with Tokuchi, and had enjoyed it immensely. He laid in bed for a bit longer than usual, chewing over the events of the day before, and how it came to be that he and Tokuchi had finally moved past whatever had been keeping them from taking their apparent mutual attraction to its logical conclusion.

Pride, he figured. Pride and a bit of arrogance and embarrassment. At least on his behalf. Who knows if Tokuchi felt embarrassment or even shame for anything? Finally, he rolled out of bed, and walked over to the shower with all the grace he could muster. Tokuchi certainly hadn't taken it easy on him. He was lucky that it was just a practice day. If they had had a game that evening, he would be in for a tough time.

After finishing his morning routine, Itsuki arrived at the stadium for practice. As he walked through the inner corridor that was only used by the staff, he let his mind drift a bit. He wondered what Tokuchi thought of last night. He hoped he had had as much fun as he did. He might have to stop by his broom closet after a while. He didn't expect much, but he did hope that things wouldn't be too awkward from now on.

During practice, Itsuki found that despite walking a little funny, he was in top condition. His form was better than ever, and his swings were increasingly accurate. It seemed as though he had been in a slump without knowing it. Maybe spending the evening with Tokuchi had cured him. Itsuki snorted to himself. Nothing like some dick therapy to help with a slump. He would have to write that one down.

Finally, he was broken out of his thoughts when Kitaooji called out to him.

"Hey Takami," he cried "Coach wants you in the meeting room in fifteen minutes! Tokuchi's going to try another meeting!"

Takami blinked over at him, and then nodded. Guess he would be seeing Tokuchi sooner than he thought. He turned back to the pitching machine to do a few more practice swings before he would head down. He might as well get as much practice in as he could today. He wanted this good streak to last.

Later on, he sat with Amami and Kira while Tokuchi stood at the front of the meeting room. Tokuchi crossed his arms, and cocked his head a bit to the side as he gazed over the gathered players. If he was going for cool and confident, then he definitely made it.

"So," Tokuchi began. "I've been observing all of you for a while now, and there are a few trends I'm noticing". Tokuchi looked over them all pointedly. "First of all, you need to stop caring about the achievements and performance of others". At that, he seemed to be making a point of not looking at Brooklyn or Amami. "Sometimes it's beneficial to compete against your peers, but there are times when it becomes too much. Evidently, it has". Tokuchi uncrossed his arms and leaned forward, placing his hands on the table in front of him to look at them straight on. "To put it simply, the entire team has become a distraction to itself. Your individual goals, achievements, and downfalls have gotten tangled up, and with that, your team dynamic has been thrown into the gutter. You all need to ignore each other more. Stop looking for criticism. Focus on your individual performance without comparing yourself to your peers". Tokuchi looked as if he could go on, but he was interrupted when a hand shot into the air.

Watanabe, one of the new rookie players, stood up and addressed Tokuchi directly. "When you say that we shouldn't seek criticism, doesn't that pretty much go against everything it takes to get better?" he asked. "How are we supposed to know what we need to improve if we just rely on ourselves for feedback".

Tokuchi leaned back off the table and sighed. "I never said that you would stop receiving criticism," he said. "I only told you to stop seeking it out." With that, he looked over at the small group of coaches standing nearby. "You will obviously still receive instructions and guidance from the coaching staff, but the overall purpose of this is to stop being overly critical of each other. At this point it serves no purpose." With that, Watanabe sat down, not looking entirely satisfied. "Overall, most of the poor performance can be linked to your own individual inabilities to look past the actions and words of those around you" Tokuchi went on. "Basically what you need to do is only ask for criticism if you truly want it, and give it only when asked. It's very simple. Nobody should struggle with it."

Before anyone could interrupt, Tokuchi went on. "Speaking of goals, most of you seem to have lost track. It seems to me as if some of you have lost motivation to improve your own performance, and mainly focus on messing with your opponents. He made a point of not looking over at Itsuki.

That made him bristle a bit. He knew that he had lost track a bit last season, but it hadn't been that bad, had it? Tokuchi went on about goal chunking and focus on the self, but at that moment, Tokuchi turned to the side, and for a brief moment the ends of what were likely a couple of scratches became visible over the collar of his shirt. They were barely visible, and wouldn't be noticed easily unless someone knew what they were looking for. Itsuki gazed over at Tokuchi while he spoke, and ignored the occasional annoyed look he sent his way. Tokuchi probably didn't enjoy being looked at like a piece of meat in front of everybody, but he really couldn't help himself. It was gratifying to know Tokuchi could be marked by a normal person. The fact that he was able to mar his nearly perfect skin was all the more gratifying.

Finally, the meeting seemed to finish, as everybody began to file out of the room, some staying behind to talk to the few coaches that had gathered. Itsuki subtly shook himself and stood up. Tokuchi walked out past him, not bothering to make eye contact. Itsuki honestly wasn't surprised. He didn't really expect anything to change after the previous evening. Tokuchi was still Tokuchi, and one lay probably wouldn't change it. Itsuki watched him walk down the hall followed by an assistant coach. He would leave him alone, then. He didn't need to see him every day after all. They were just friends, and barely at that. Besides, why was he the one always seeking Tokuchi out? Let him come to Itsuki for once.

Over the next couple of hours, Itsuki finished his batting practice, met with a trainer, and bothered the massage therapist for a bit. Finally, he headed home. On the way, he slowly felt the high from the day melt away. He had had a good practice, and it was pretty obvious that he was improving, yet he still felt something missing. He tried not to think about that too much.

The next day, practice was mostly spent going over strategies for their upcoming games against the Bugaboos. They were of course focusing mostly on beating Johnson. Other than that, Coach Imawano didn't seem too worried. After a bit of batting practice, Itsuki to the weight room, feeling better than he did the previous day. He was keeping his uptick from the day before. All he had to do was keep it up, and the Bugaboos would be absolutely useless against them. Before he could think about grinding the opposing team into the dust more, someone broke him out of his thoughts.

"Hey, how are things going?" Amami asked, sitting on the bench beside him. Itsuki looked over at him and smiled.

"Really well," he replied.

"What's going well?" Amami asked yet again. "Your training, or things with Tokuchi?" At that, Itsuki nearly dropped his dumbbells.

"What do you mean?" he asked, trying to keep his cool. Amami looked over and him with a little smile.

"Don't act like half the team didn't see those scratches," he said lowly. "They just don't know who they came from".

"Well shit," Itsuki said. "That's alright then, isn't it? Besides, how do you know?"

Amami raised an eyebrow at him. "I know how you look at people when you have a thing for them. Other than that, you've practically been hanging off him lately. If you're trying to hide whatever relationship you may have, then you're not doing a very good job". Itsuki had to pause at that. He wasn't really trying to hide anything, was He? Pretty much everybody he was close with knew he went both ways, and he was close with a good number of people on his team. Then, the second half of Amami's statement sunk in.

"There isn't a relationship," he hissed. "Nothing emotional". Amami snorted at that.

"You've never been good at that," he said. "In my experience, you get emotionally involved really easily".

Itsuki looked away for a brief second, then met Amami's eyes once more. "This is different," he said. "I have more self-control now. Besides, you get emotionally attached pretty easily too from what I recall". Amami shrugged.

"So what?" he said. "At least I can acknowledge it". With that, Amami sighed. "I'm not going to start something over this," he said carefully. "I just don't want you to get hurt, or have whatever you call it between the two of you melt down and bring the team with it". Before Itsuki could interrupt, Amami continued. "You know it would," he said. "Forget Tokuchi. You keep the team together far more than you will ever know". After a few seconds of silence, Amami stood up and turned to walk away.

"Thanks for being concerned," Itsuki said before Amami could leave. "I'm not being sarcastic. I really mean it". Amami gave a slight wave, then went on his way. Itsuki sat there for a couple of minutes, replaying his conversation. Amami was right to be concerned, based on past experiences, but he was older now, and he really did have more self-control.

He really didn't feel like continuing his workout, so he placed the weights back on the rack, and walked aimlessly down the corridor. Finally, he found himself in front of Tokuchi's little office. That irked him a bit. He really could stay away if he wanted to. Before he could move on, the door swung open, knocking him off balance. Tokuchi honestly looked a bit thrown to see his there. That wasn't a good sign.

"Hey," he said, articulate as ever.

"What are you doing here?" Tokuchi asked, straight to the point as ever.

"I'm not quite sure," Itsuki said honestly. Tokuchi shrugged, and then stepped aside, inviting him in. Itsuki ducked inside, and stood there, awkwardly looking at Tokuchi but avoiding eye contact.

"It's fine, you know," Tokuchi said. When faced with Itsuki's incredulous look, he continued. "You don't have to have a reason every time you come here". Itsuki smiled a bit, then approached Tokuchi.

"So," he began quietly. "How's your back?" Tokuchi looked the slightest bit confused for a second before he got it.

"Oh, it's fine," he said. "It looks worse than it is. Itsuki flicked his eyes over the two that barely showed above his collar.

"Can I see them?" he asked in a low voice. He didn't know why he did it, but seeing something, anything mar Tokuchi s skin made him feels A Certain Way. Tokuchi narrowed his eyes at him, but nodded his assent. Turning around, Tokuchi closed and locked his door before unbuttoning his shirt. With each progressive button, his shirt slouched a bit more, revealing smooth pale skin adorned with eight angry looking scratches. Itsuki almost felt bad about it. But not quite.

Before Tokuchi could pull his shirt back up, Itsuki approached him, and gently ran the tips of his fingers down one row of scratches. As he did, he felt Tokuchi's back tense a bit. That could be either good or bad. The scratches were slight scabbed over, but Tokuchi was right. They did look worse than they were. Tokuchi had apparently indulged him enough, and he pulled his shirt back on, knocking Itsuki's hand away.

"Sorry," Itsuki said. "That doesn't look too comfortable.

"It's fine," Tokuchi said. "For some reason, I have a feeling that you're worse off than me right now". Itsuki sighed.

"Yeah," he said. "You're probably right there". They stood there awkwardly looking at each other for an uncomfortable amount of time before Itsuki broke the silence. "I should probably get going," he said quietly. "We both need to get ready to travel for the game tomorrow after all". They would be playing the Bugaboos for the first time that season. Johnson would be playing again, and he was honestly a bit worried.

"You're probably right," Tokuchi said slowly. "You'll probably have your work cut out for you". They walked out to the parking lot in silence.

"Do you have any idea of how to beat them," Itsuki asked.

"A couple," Tokuchi replied, not bothering to clarify.

"Would you care to share?" Itsuki asked, leering over at Tokuchi.

Tokuchi looked annoyed for a second, but replied anyway. "For Johnson, there is a way to beat him easily".

Itsuki's breath hitched when Tokuchi spoke. If they could beat Johnson, then the game would be a piece of cake. "What is it?" he asked quietly.

"What's the easiest way to stop somebody from running?" Tokuchi asked as they neared their cars. Itsuki thought for a second before he came to the logical conclusion.

"We're not breaking his legs, you asshole!" He cried. Tokuchi gave a short laugh at that.

"You asked me if I knew how to beat him," he replied. "I never said you'd like it".

Itsuki heaved a sigh. So this wouldn't be an easy win after all. He would live, though. It's not like he didn't appreciate a challenge after all.

"Just to clarify," Itsuki said. "We aren't going to break his legs".

"We totally are," Tokuchi said straight-faced. It was then that Itsuki realized that it's what passes for humor in his tiny mind. Itsuki snorted at him derisively before getting in his car and heading home. He had other things to do. He other things he could be doing than hanging out in a parking lot with Tokuchi. Not that he minded that, after all.

* * *

Happy birthday Toa you rat bastard.


	14. Chapter 14

The mood on the bus the next day was significantly better than it was the last time they had travelled. The game against the Bugaboos was that evening, and they all felt prepared. The ride over was marked by the presence of a few members of the upper coaching staff. Some high level media representatives were riding on the staff bus, so naturally they would push them onto the player's bus. Itsuki noted that the other players were only mildly annoyed with this development. Itsuki turned to face forward. He wouldn't let anything make him lose focus. He could only hope that the others felt the same way.

Later that evening, they were a few innings in against the Bugaboos, and things were progressing nicely. Their pitchers had managed to fend them off reasonably well, and they had managed to stay a consistent five points ahead. Although Johnson was giving them trouble as expected, the others were remaining surprisingly calm. Itsuki glanced over to where Kawanaka was sitting. They had him to thank for fending off Johnson as much as they had. They just had to keep their lead, and they would do well.

After another round of at bats, Itsuki was feeling even more confident. Confident enough to sneak a few glances over at Tokuchi. He was wearing the typical high collared jacket that the other coaches were wearing due to the unseasonably cool chill in the air. Unfortunately, it hid the scratches Itsuki had come to be so proud of. That was probably Tokuchi's plan. Turning back to the field, he watched as Yamakawa struck out. Thankfully, nobody did anything about it. Maybe Tokuchi was making a difference after all. As he made his way out to third base, he observed Kawanaka as he took the mound. Using him against Johnson was a calculated choice on Imawano's behalf. As a lefty, Kawanaka was difficult for a normal batter to hit off of. Against a bunter like Johnson, he was practically invincible. Practically being the key word, as Johnson was able to bunt the first pitch that came his way, zipping over to first before anybody could do anything about it. Kawanaka only looked mildly disgruntled, and turned to face the next batter. His next pitch would likely be a fork ball.

True to Itsuki's prediction, Kawanaka struck out the next two batters with forks. Unfortunately, that meant Johnson still had time to get to third. Itsuki stood there a couple of feet away from him anticipating a possible pickoff attempt. One that didn't come. With the next pitch, Johnson darted over to home, and tapped the base without the catcher even coming close to getting him out. The consistency of his score was starting to get to Itsuki, and over the next few innings, it was apparently getting to the pitchers too.

After Kawanaka was traded out with Kira, Johnson still kept up his score. Before long, they were back and neck at the top of the ninth. As Itsuki stepped out onto the field, he braced himself. He really needed to score a point. It was the only thing he could do at that point. Unfortunately, he only hit the ball with enough distance for him to get to first. Thomas hit next, getting him to second, followed by Amami who struck out. Itsuki was getting restless. They only had two more outs, then Johnson would come out once more to grind them into the dust. Luckily, Brooklyn managed to hit out into the outfield far enough that he and Thomas both were able to round home. Itsuki headed back to the dugout to observe the rest of the inning. Unfortunately, they were struck out twice more, and the Bugaboos were at bat. They only had to score two more points and the game would go into extra innings. Three, and they would win. Itsuki didn't want to start losing that early in the season.

Mizuhashi was able to fend off the Bugaboos lineup relatively well, but not well enough that they weren't able to score one more point. With that, the game was set. They had won by a single point. That seemed to irk Imawano, as he tossed his clipboard onto the bench in a huff.

After he had showered and changed, he headed to the hotel with most of the team. A few others had decided to go out, but Itsuki wouldn't partake that night. Not when they had morning warm up with a midday game. After they reached the hotel, he spotted Tokuchi in the lobby. Tokuchi apparently noticed him as well, as he seemed to wrap up whatever conversation he was having with another assistant, and headed his way.

"That wasn't your best tonight," He said, not bothering to greet him. "What's going on?"

Itsuki did his best to not get irritated with Tokuchi. He was probably just trying to do his job. Probably.

"Not sure," he said. "I didn't think I was that bad. Around average for me".

Tokuchi cocked his head at him. "Shame," he replied. "I'm not used to you just being 'average'". Itsuki didn't know whether it was an insult or a compliment. Probably both. He decided to ignore it.

"So what are you up to for the rest of the night?" he asked, trying to keep things civil.

"I hadn't thought of it just yet," Tokuchi said. "I've done everything I needed to do".

"In that case," Itsuki said, "Feel perfectly welcome to come by later," he said quietly. "I'm in 308". "Only of you're interested though". Tokuchi gave him a small half smile.

"I'll think about it," he replied. With that, they both went their own separate ways.

After he got back to his hotel room, Itsuki flipped the TV on. He wanted to see how the Lycaons did against the Eagles earlier. After a few minutes of watching recaps, Itsuki could honestly say he was nervous. The Lycaons had been consistently at the top when it came to scores that season, and they had won the vast majority of their games so far. As the commentators showed a slow motion recap of one of Kurai's pitches, Itsuki couldn't help but shudder. He still didn't know how he could beat Kurai if he kept pitching the way he had been. It was honestly kind of scary having the ball come at him like that the last season. And he had never been afraid of the ball before.

When it came down to it, it would probably be either him or Amami to hit off of Kurai, but if he was pitching the same way he had been, then it may be another year before he gave up the record he had steadily been building. As the commentator went on, Itsuki saw Kojima in the dugout. It was a shame that he'd retired, but unsurprisingly enough, he was making waves as a coach. If it weren't for the fact that he now owned the Lycaons, he would most likely be scouted left and right. The rest of the players were also doing well at getting rid of whatever bad reputation that may have lingered from the previous season. He kind of expected them to be getting scouted as soon as some of their contracts expired. Before he could watch them dominate the Eagles more, he heard a knock at his door. Itsuki's heart just about skipped a beat. It was probably Tokuchi.

Itsuki made his way over without bothering to turn off the television. Tokuchi wasn't weak. He could take watching his old team. True to form, Tokuchi stepped in without greeting him.

"So," he started. "What did you have in mind?" Itsuki stood there dumbly for a second.

"Well, I was thinking that we could just. You know, hang out?" he asked, realizing that he didn't have anything planned.

Tokuchi sighed. "If that's what you call it" he muttered before closing the distance between them. Itsuki was thrown for a moment before he realized what was probably going on. Asking Tokuchi to come up to his hotel room had some less than innocent implications now that he thought about it. Whatever he was expecting, it wasn't this. Not that he was complaining. At that moment, complaining about kissing Tokuchi was the furthest thing from his mind.

"Tokuchi-" he started before he was interrupted.

"You know that you can call me by my first name now, right?" Tokuchi said. Itsuki stood there for a second before grabbing Toku- no, Toa and yanking him back to kiss him again. He had honestly never thought that they would get to a first name basis.

Things were progressing nicely until a commotion on the TV made Toa pull away. Glancing over at the TV, he pulled a face. Before Itsuki could turn it off, Toa moved away from him, and sat down on the end of his bed to reluctantly watch the recap of the game.

"We can turn that off, you know," Itsuki said, feeling the urgent need to get close to Toa again.

"Not in the mood anymore," Toa said, glancing sourly over at him. Goddamit, he had gotten really close, too. Itsuki sighed and sat down next to Tokuchi to watch the rest of the game.

"What do you think?" he asked, glancing over at Toa nervously. "Think we can beat them?" They would be playing them after they finished with the Bugaboos. If Toa had any insight, now was the time to hear it.

Tokuchi glanced back over at him before focusing his attention back on the TV. "I honestly don't know," he said. "They're doing better now than when I left them. Kojima's been teaching them well".

"Do you even know how to beat them?" Itsuki asked. He didn't expect Toa to tell him if he did, he just wanted to know.

"I have no idea how to beat them," Tokuchi stated plainly. "I wasn't thinking of playing against them when I was there, so I never thought of leaving them with a weakness". Tokuchi sighed. "At this point, I don't think we can beat them. They have all of my strengths, and none of my weaknesses. That combined with having Kojima as a coach leaves me wondering if they can be beaten as they are now". That sent shiver of dread down Itsuki's back. If Toa was being honest, and he believed he was, then the Lycaons were far more formidable than he had ever anticipated.

The next day, Itsuki zipped through his morning routine, hung out a bit with his teammates, and spent the afternoon going over strategies to deal with Johnson. So far, all of his ideas had been shot down. At this point, breaking legs was sounding pretty good.

Later that same day, Itsuki was seriously considering breaking at least one of Johnson's legs. Not that it was just him giving them a hard time. It was the fault of at least a third of the batting lineup that the Bugaboos had managed to pull six points ahead of them by the bottom of the seventh inning. With just two innings left to go, they needed to haul some serious ass to keep up, otherwise Imawano would probably murder them. They barely had been able to go through a rotation before they had been struck out. It seemed as though Itsuki was the only one capable of scoring that evening, and it began to grate him. Looking over at the coaches, Itsuki could almost see the palpable tension rising from Imawano. That was never good.

After another disastrous rotation thanks to the Bugaboos, they had one inning left, and Itsuki meant to make it count. After Kitaooji had unceremoniously struck out, Itsuki found himself on the plate. When the pitcher wound up and pitched, Itsuki followed the ball closely, made a guess, and was immediately rewarded when it sailed over the outfielders and went into the home run zone. Maybe he really was getting his groove back after all. His scored point must have injected some life back into the team, as both Amami and Brooklyn were able to score points. Finally, they were down by only three points when a pitching change was announced.

What Itsuki did not expect was for the more experienced relief pitcher to be replaced by a foreign rookie pitcher. He glanced over at Imawano, who seemed confused. Judging by the murmur that arose from the coaching staff, this rookie hadn't pitched in a game yet this season. Some guy named Sandro Velasquez. No matter, Itsuki was on a roll, and he wouldn't let some newbie knock him off his game.

When Thomas struck out swinging, Itsuki thought it may have been a fluke. When Brooklyn struck out swinging, Itsuki began to get nervous. When Amami struck out swinging, Itsuki felt a sense of dread in the pit of his stomach. They had lost. He had honestly thought that they would have been able to pull ahead. Disappointment soon set in. God knows they would get it that night from Imawano. Their loss would probably totally overshadow their win from the night before. On the way back to the hotel, the mood was somber. With that loss, the Lycaons had pulled ahead of them in the rankings. That was unprecedented, but not unexpected at this point. The way they were, they would be lucky to make it to the end of the season.

The next day, the bus ride back to the stadium in Chiba was totally silent. Usually a loss like that wouldn't bring the team down so low. Toa was probably right. They had been doing damage to themselves. Probably to the point that a close loss like that was bringing the whole team down. They really needed to get past whatever was holding them back. Toa really needed to step up his game. After going their separate ways to prepare for the final game that evening, Itsuki decided to ask Amami to get some lunch with him. He really needed some guy talk.

After they got to a local sandwich shop and ordered, they sat down. The silence grew heavier by the second. "So," Itsuki began. "How do you think this'll go tonight?" he asked, trying to ignore the dead look his teammate sent his way.

"We'll have to see," Amami began. "This development with that Velasquez guy is troublesome. Did you see what he was doing?" Itsuki shook his head. He had been too caught up in trying to keep it together that he hadn't thought of trying to analyze his pitches.

"He was throwing knuckleballs," Amami continued. "The real deal". Well crap. That was bad. Amami must have read the look on Itsuki's face pretty accurately, as he sighed and went on. "It's not like we can't hit them though. Now that we know what he's pitching, It'll be easier to hit off of him. If anybody can do it, it's one of us". Itsuki nodded his head a bit at that. He wasn't wrong.

"That's not my main concern though," Itsuki stated. When Amami blinked over at him in confusion, he continued. "If we're having such a hard time with the Bugaboos, imagine how we'll do against the Lycaons in a couple of days".

"Oh," Amami responded. "I've actually been looking forward to that".

"Seriously?" Itsuki asked incredulously. "You think we're ready for that? As a team? I thought we were getting better, but it seems as if we're getting worse".

Amami leaned back in his chair before he responded. "As a team? No, I don't think we're ready," he said slowly. "But I think I am".

Itsuki narrowed his eyes at him. "You can't be serious," he muttered. "Are you really thinking of going up against Kurai and winning? Have you seen his stats lately?"

"You and I both know that stats aren't necessarily indicative of how someone will perform that day," Amami said. "Besides, if it isn't one of us, who will it be?"

"If he's pitching the same way he has been lately, nobody," Itsuki replied.

"If you're worried, that's fine," Amami said. "But this won't be a deciding game for us. We're allowed to have some fun with it". With that, he changed the subject.

That night, their fans had come out in full force to cheer them on. Itsuki could hardly hear Coach Imawano speak from the dugout over the chanting. That made him feel better. It was always nice to feel the energy from the crown wash over him. They were starting on defense, and he was dutifully manning third base as always. That night, Johnson wouldn't be his main concern. Instead, he would be focusing solely on Velasquez. Although, he didn't see him in the dugout. He might not even play that night. That would be both a relief and a disappointment.

Before he could ruminate any longer, the game started, and Tashiro threw his first pitch, striking out the first batter. He kept up the good work and struck out the two progressive betters, but only managed to get Johnson to foul the ball enough times to get out. Disappointing. He was hoping for something a bit more dramatic. The next few innings proceeded at a deadlock, with neither team scoring. Finally, at the top of the sixth, Thomas managed to get a lucky home run, and gained a point for the team. The general atmosphere on the bench improved after that, with the player all bracing themselves to earn more points and hopefully erase their shameful loss from the night before.

Over the next few innings, they racked up a few more points before a pitching change was announced at the bottom of the eighth. Velasquez would be coming out again. Itsuki looked over at Amami, who looked just about as excited as he ever did, but judging by the energy shift in the dugout, the entire clean-up crew were hyping themselves up to face this new opponent. After Kitaooji managed to hit far enough to get to first, followed by Thomas striking out, Itsuki found himself staring Velasquez down. He was going to hit tonight, no question about it. He let the first pitch go by to see if it had any weaknesses. He found none. No rotation, and a good sway. It would be nigh impossible to hit in this condition.

After the second pitch turned into a strike, Itsuki braced himself for massive success, only to bounce it off the end of his bat. The fact that he was a fast runner was the only thing that saved him from getting out. He wished he could have done better, but at least it was something. Thankfully, Amami also hit a low grounder, loading the bases. Itsuki could probably cut the tension in the air with a knife. It was all on Brooklyn now. Unfortunately, he struck out, getting Kitaooji out in the process. That double play would be hard to live down.

Finally, Tomioka, somehow managed to do what they had not, and got Itsuki to home, with Amami getting tagged in the process, ending their offense. They had one more shot to win this, and they couldn't waste it. Thankfully, the last half of the inning progressed nicely. It would appear as though Johnson was getting tired from running as much as he did the past few games. Itsuki had to smile to himself. They were finally seeing an end to this. When the top of the ninth rolled around, Itsuki let himself feel optimistic. They were up by a good number of points, and he was finally getting an eye for Velasquez's knuckleballs. He apparently couldn't throw any other breaking balls.

Thanks to him, Amami, and finally Brooklyn, The game was almost set. They just had to strike out three of the Bugaboos's batters, and they would be the victors of the three game series. With this in mind, Coach Imawano sent Kawanaka out to end things quickly. With each progressive batter, the lineup was less and less formidable. Kawanaka's forkballs were dipping lower than ever that evening. Apparently he had something to prove too. With that in mind, Kawanaka struck the last batter out swinging, earning a thunderous roar from the rest of the stadium. On the way back to the dugout, Itsuki saw the mood from the previous evening dissipate as the players allowed themselves to celebrate.

After the game, most of the team went to a local bar to decompress. Itsuki however satisfied he was that they had won, couldn't bring himself to go. On the way out to the car, he nearly bumped into Toa, who seemed a bit distracted.

"Where are you off to?" he asked almost hesitantly. He half hoped that Toa was at least a little impressed with his performance that evening.

"Looking for you, actually," Toa responded, grabbing him by the arm. "You were good out there tonight. I thought there was something we could do."

"Oh really?" Itsuki asked, a little tired. He really didn't know if he had it in him to celebrate.

Toa noticed Itsuki hanging back a bit. Impatient, he yanked him along. He had plans for him, and he wouldn't be deterred. "Come on," he said, yanking him along until they reached the now abandoned locker room. Before Itsuki could say anything, Toa slammed him into a locker, and rested his hands against the other man's chest. He didn't even bother to lock the door. Nobody was around, and this was a long time overdue. Toa kissed Itsuki once before he began to sink to his knees, sliding his hands down his chest as he went, smiling up at him the entire time. Itsuki's eyes got huge, but he didn't say anything, only nodding his assent.

Toa undid Itsuki's belt, and yanked his pants and underwear down around his hips. Toa admired the sight in front of him for a minute, ignoring the labored breathing from the man before him. This was one glorious piece of flesh. Half hard, he was just the right length, not too short, and not too long, with enough girth to make it impressive. Toa was positively delighted, and as an act of gratitude for this wonderful presentation, he put his lips over the head, just taking it into his mouth.

After a while, Itsuki slid down the locker to sit beside Toa. Toa looked over at Itsuki before snorting. He had just given him a blow job in a public locker room with the door unlocked. That was pretty impulsive, even for him. Takami didn't seem to be having the same thoughts though, as he was just gazing into Toa's eyes as if he was the only person on the planet. Before Toa could comment on what had just happened, Takami reached over and cupped Toa's face in his hand before kissing him sweetly on the lips. Toa let himself be kissed for a moment, then opened his mouth and spat what was left of the semen into Takami's mouth. Takami promptly made a face at Toa and wiped his mouth off on the back of his hand before wiping it on Toa's face.

"You're disgusting," Itsuki finally said weakly.

"Be that as it may, you can't say you didn't enjoy it," Toa said wiping his mouth off.

"I wasn't talking about, I mean when you-" Itsuki began before Toa cut him off.

"That really was impressive out there," he said. "I'm impressed you managed to keep your cool that long. You were the only one that showed that level of self-control for once". That seemed to throw Itsuki for a loop, as the sat there doing his best impression of a fish before speaking.

"Is that what brought that on?" the other man asked, still a bit breathless.

"It was a contributing factor," Toa stated. With that, he stood up, and offered Itsuki his hand; pulling him up when he grabbed it. "You should go home and rest," he said. "You have a hard few days ahead of you". He then walked out of the locker room, leaving Itsuki alone for once.

So let's just pretend I didn't get totally overwhelmed by school for like 5 months. Deal?

Sorry for not posting the entire scene here, I just wanted to be safe with the ratings. If you want to read the whole thing, I have an account on ao3.


	15. Chapter 15

The Mariners' first game against the Lycaons was in less than an hour, and Toa could honestly say he was not excited. He wasn't the emotional type, but when he burned bridges and cut ties with others, he didn't usually plan on coming into contact with them again, especially when his emotions were involved. Emotions were often the source of his failures, although they were few and far between. Nevertheless, he would be coming into indirect contact with his old team, and thanks to the new confidence he instilled in them, they'd probably be much more ballsy than they had been. With a longing look out the window into the lot where he was parked, Toa headed down to the field where the other coaches and assistants had gathered.

The Lycaons dugout was across the field a ways away, but he could still feel the gaze of his old team boring into him. While the teams warmed up, it became apparent to Toa that he would most likely be ignored in favor of antagonizing the Mariners. Sugadaira had already thumbed his nose at Brooklyn during batting practice by hitting several pitches that he knew Brooklyn struggled with. Before he could turn away to touch base with Imawano, he saw Ideguchi approaching the dugout.

"Hey," he began, speaking directly to Toa. "I know you probably don't care, but I wanted to let you know that we intend to crush you today. We won't hold back. We'll use everything we have to win. We've become stronger, and now we're going to prove it to you".

Toa gazed back at him with the best indifferent look he could muster. "I wouldn't expect anything less, Captain Ideguchi", he said, using Ideguchi's official title to emphasize the shift in their relationship.

Ideguchi gave him a cold look before turning around and heading back to his own dugout. Imawano scoffed, muttered something about how players nowadays had no respect, and made another assistant take notes on the batting lineup practice they had just witnessed. Toa kept up his indifferent facade, pointedly not looking over at the players. They were probably waiting to see his reaction at being publicly called out. Not too long after, the lineup was announced, and the game began.

As Ideguchi had promised, it was a massacre. Takahashi pitched well, most likely doing his best impression of Toa's own "blank state of mind". Kojima had obviously outdone himself with the outfielders, as they were handling Kawanaka and Kira just fine. The score wasn't too unequal until the fifth inning, when a pitching change was announced, bringing Kurai to the mound.

Toa observed his pitches with the same cold indifference he had perfected during his time with the Lycaons, but it was becoming increasingly obvious to him that there was a blatant gap in ability that no fancy training would bridge. He struck out batter after batter, sinking the overall morale in the dugout, save for Amami, who was still as pumped up as ever about facing Kurai on the field. He had really created a monster with that one.

At the top of the eighth, he spared a glance over the players in the dugout, eyes lingering slightly over Takami. He seemed more resigned than depressed. After he was struck out almost immediately by Kurai, he slipped out the door into the hallway behind the dugout. He turned to look back over the field, but Imawano caught his eye first. Imawano jerked his head in the direction Takami had gone, all but ordering Toa to go after him and bring him back. Toa barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes before he turned and walked out after him.

It wasn't long before he found Takami slumped over on a bench, leaning forward with his head resting on his hands.

"What's wrong with us?", Takami asked quietly. "When did they surpass us this much? I thought it was just a teamwork issue, but they really are too good".

Toa looked straight ahead, refusing to look at Takami in his moment of weakness. That was a level of awkward that Toa was not interested in at the moment.

"They've been working at it for a while now", he began. "Teamwork still plays into it. While you guys were infighting, they were getting stronger. I definitely didn't slow them down in that regard", he added as an afterthought. "You knew the first game would be like this", he continued. "Once you get used to the way they play now, you might be able to catch up sooner or later".

Takami heaved a sigh. "That's not too reassuring", he said. " This is the part where you say you have a miracle plan to bail us out and save the day".

Toa snorted at that. "I never really did that", he muttered. "They did a lot of the work themselves. I just facilitated some growth".

Takami stood up and started walking back in the direction of the dugout. "I didn't expect you to be the type that sells yourself short", he said. "It would be nice if you could facilitate some growth in us right about now". With that, he he walked back into the dugout with Toa following close behind him.

After being served a crushing defeat by the Lycaons, Itsuki Takami was not in good spirits. His worst fears had been confirmed; the Lycaons really were stronger. Unlike the rest of his team however, he still did have some hope. The Lycaons's tricks would only last for so long until everyone else caught on. Their batting lineup could eventually be caught up by tricks from their pitchers. And Kurai's pitches would only be effective for so long. It wasn't like his pitches were anything special, other than the fact that they were pretty fast. Enough training on the pitching machines the team already had on the fastest setting would probably do the trick. Itsuki heaved a breath of relief. They would get through this in the end.

The next day, Itsuki was in decidedly higher spirits than his teammates. They obviously hadn't thought the situation out like he had. Or maybe they had, and they were still intimidated. It didn't really matter, as it was becoming increasingly obvious that the game would be rained out that day. Amami was looking particularly sullen, most likely because he wouldn't have the chance to be humiliated by Kurai that day. Itsuki could understand having a rivalry with one particular pitcher; he just didn't want Amami's rivalry to turn into an obsession. He knew how well that could turn out.

Itsuki went through morning practice with ease, letting himself get swept away by his routines. After practice ended, he wasn't quite sure what to do with himself. The game against the Lycaons had been confirmed to be cancelled. They had had their practice in the indoor practice arena, so he hadn't had a chance to peek outside yet that day. As he made his way outside, he could understand why the game was cancelled. It was absolutely pissing down rain.

After a long and treacherous car ride home, he stood in the middle of his living room not quite sure what to do with himself. He had held out some hope for the game that night, so he hadn't made any plans for dinner or entertainment. He didn't have any plans to cook up for their next game, and he had already finished all the books he had been planning on reading. Before he could start puttering around, his phone began to ring. He picked it up a bit too fast, and was rewarded with the voice he had been hoping for.

"Hey" Tokuchi said, "You're coming over tonight".

Itsuki was speechless for a moment. "I am?" he asked.

"Yeah", Toa said. "The game was cancelled, but you still probably didn't make any plans just in case". Takami noted a brief pause. "Unless you have something better to do?" Toa finished, a smug edge to his voice.

Itsuki was already putting his shoes on at that point. "You know I don't", he said. "Just tell me where you live, and I'll be there".

True to his word, he got to Toa's apartment building in record time. Looking over the exterior, he was surprised to note that it looked like it was the same kind of mid tier upper class type of apartment building that he lived in. Big windows, lots of stories. Glancing around, he didn't see Toa's car. He had most likely parked underground. He headed inside and to the elevator. The doorman, because of course there was a doorman, didn't blink once at him. That was probably a good sign.

Once he came to a stop at Tokuchi's floor, he looked around, noting that there were five units on that floor, which was strange. He would think that Tokuchi would be the kind of guy to live in a penthouse apartment spanning an entire floor. He shrugged it off, and knocked on Tokuchi's door. He didn't have to wait long before Tokuchi opened the door. At first glance, Itsuki was a little thrown. Tokuchi was wearing jeans and a green knit long sleeve shirt. He knew that Tokuchi probably dressed more casually around his home, but actually seeing him in something other than button up shirts and baseball jerseys was something new for him.

"Are you going to just stand there, or are you going to come in?" Tokuchi asked.

"Ah, sorry Tokuchi, I'm coming in", Itsuki said, keeping himself from stuttering shamefully.

After a second, Tokuchi glanced over at him. "I thought I told you that you could call me by my first name".

Itsuki nodded at him in response. He had to break that habit.

After brushing past Toa to enter his apartment, Itsuki hesitated a bit. It was not at all what he was expecting. Instead of a spacious floor plan and chandeliers, he saw a small but still kind of trendy efficiency apartment. It still had high ceilings and huge windows, but the living room and kitchen were only divided by a small countertop. Other than that, there was only a half wall separating the bedroom from the rest of the apartment. It made sense in a sort of way for Itsuki. It was clean cut and expensive, but not overly excessive.

"So, what did you have in mind?" he asked turning to Toa.

"We could watch a movie", he suggested.

That was probably a safe bet. That's what they had done when they hung out at Itsuki's place on New Year's Eve. But Itsuki didn't see a tv in the living room. Just a small sofa and chair set.

"Back here", Toa said, nodding his head in the direction of his bedroom. Itsuki had to stifle a smile at that. Toa was probably scheming again. He followed Toa into the section of the apartment partitioned off as a bedroom. He was once again mildly taken aback at the size. It was big enough just for one double bed shoved up against the window, and one nightstand built into the wall with a tv about five feet from the foot of the bed. Itsuki sat down on the side of the bed against the wall. He wasn't really scared of heights, but that didn't mean he was ready and willing to press himself up against the glass of a tenth story apartment.

Toa took the side of the bed against the window and glanced over at Itsuki. "Well?" He asked, "What do you want to watch?"

Oh. That's right. Itsuki had completely forgotten about their apparent routine of picking a movie. Itsuki looked over the selection. It was sparser than his had a pretty blended selection of both English and Japanese movies. "What about that one?" He asked, pointing to an English title.

"Sure", Toa said. "I actually haven't had a chance to watch it yet. I've heard it's supposed to be good". With that, He popped "The Blair Witch Project" into the VCR.

About 45 minutes later, Itsuki was pressed against the headboard of Toa's bed, doing his damn best to keep a straight face. It wasn't that the movie was scary. No, it was just ridiculously suspenseful. He wasn't a big fan of suspense. Not in a movie and not in real life. He risked a glance over at Toa, who looked as calm and collected as ever, relaxing against the headboard in such a way that his shoulder was barely brushing his own, but maintaining his own space. Itsuki raised an eyebrow at him, but of course he was just nonchalantly watching the movie. Itsuki huffed a bit, then scooted over so that he was pressed right up against Toa's side, slinging his arm around Toa's shoulders. Toa glanced up at him in what Itsuki hoped was mock irritation, then turned back to the screen. Itsuki would almost dare to say that Toa even relaxed a bit more against him.

After the decidedly upsetting ending of the movie, Itsuki was ready and willing to admit that he was uncomfortable. For the past hour, he had been aware of Toa's every breath, heartbeat, and shift in position. He had thought pulling him closer was a good power move, but Toa had somehow flipped his actions around on him, possibly without even realizing it. Just like usual. Glancing over at Toa's bedside clock, he was a little surprised at how early it was. It was only a little before eight. He decided that he needed to act soon, but Toa had already begun to speak.

"So what did you think? I actually liked it, and I'm usually not even a fan of horror movies. I thought-" Toa was set to go on, but Itsuki interrupted him first.

"How long are we going to keep up pretenses?" He asked, looking over at Toa.

Hello everybody! This will be the last chapter I post here on . It's gotten to the point where I can't continue the story and cut out the smut at the same time, and I don't know enough about the censors on to rewrite the scenes. I hope you've enjoyed reading this as much as I have writing it! If you want to continue to read this story, and you're above 18, please check me out on AO3. I've continued to update Turnabout past this point.


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